!  ■ 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 


By 
WILLIAM  MacDONALD 


Select  Statutes,  1861-1898. 

Select    Documents    Illustratitb    or    the 

History  of  the  U.  S. 
Documentary    Source    Book,    or    American 

History.  1606-1913. 


KECONSTRUCTION  IN  I'EANGE 


BY 

WILLIAM  MacDONALD 


&tto  got* 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1922 

All  rights  reserved. 


:  ;•";  .*•; ; ijus*to tt*c$asp  United  states  or  America 


K** 


^ 


ooptmqht,  1922, 
Bt  the  macmillan  company. 


Set  up  and  printed.     Published  June,  1922. 


Press  of 

J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Company 

New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEX 

Introductory  Note 

PAGI 

•     vii 

I 

The  Theater  of  Invasion  .... 

1 

II 

What  the  War  Did 

.      22 

-    Ill 

The  Beginnings  of  Reconstruction 

.      39 

IV 

The  Policy  of  Reparation 

.      59 

V 

The  Organization  of  Reconstruction 

.       78 

-    VI 

The  Restoration  of  Transport  .     . 

.     101 

VII 

The  Reconstruction  of  Industry  .     . 

122 

VIII 

The  Restoration  of  the  Mines  .     .     , 

,     141 

IX 

The  Revival  of  Agriculture  .... 

153 

-     X 

The  Problem  of  Finance 

172 

XI 

The  Government  and  Its  Critics    .     . 

188 

XII 

The  Work  of  the  Cooperative  Societies    . 

206 

XIII 

Monuments  and  Public  Buildings  .     .     . 

223 

XIV 

International  Aspects  of  Reconstruction 

r    237 

XV 

Community  Interests  and  Town  Planning 

1    257 

XVI 

The  Contribution  of  Philanthropy  ani 

► 

Sympathy 

275 

504905 


♦  •  "  •      ''•.•< 

•  ••*       iV  i  ;  ;  '..' 

S4:;:  >:  0  \  :  J  A  ..CONTENTS 

CHAPTE*  FAGS 

XVII    Conclusions 292 

Appendix 299 

A    Town  Planning  Law,  March  14,  1919    299 
B    Law  of  War  Damages,  April  17,  1919    306 

C    Law  of  the  Cooperative  Reconstruc- 
tion Societies,  August  15,  1920  .     .     332 
D    Figures  of  Population 338 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  time  was  opportune  for 
a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  unparalleled  work 
which  France  has  undertaken  in  the  restoration  of  its 
invaded  departments.  This  book  is  an  attempt  at 
such  a  survey. 

In  addition  to  the  numerous  officials  and  others  who, 
in  the  course  of  my  repeated  visits  to  the  invaded  de- 
partments both  during  and  since  the  war,  have  aided 
me  with  information  and  advice,  I  have  to  acknowledge 
special  indebtedness  to  M.  Maurice  Cazenave,  Director 
of  the  French  High  Commission  in  the  United  States ; 
M.  Henri  Prangey,  Chef  de  Cabinet  in  the  Loucheur 
Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions;  M.  Verdier  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts;  M. 
Reynald  and  the  Marquis  de  Lubersac,  senators;  M. 
Stouvenot,  Director  of  Mines  at  Douai;  M.  Conem, 
Mayor  of  Armentieres;  the  Baron  de  la  Grange;  M. 
Tardieu,  former  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions; 
M.  Louis  Champy,  Director-General  of  the  Compagnie 
des  Mines  d'Anzin;  M.  C.  Javary,  Chef  d'Exploitation 
of  the  Compagnie  des  Chemins  de  Fer  du  Nord;  the 
Secretary  of  the  Compagnie  des  Chemins  de  Fer  de 
l'Est;  M.  L.  Rouquairol  of  Paris;  Professor  G.  La 
Flize  of  the  Lycee  Henri  IV;  M.  G.  Marret  of  the  Co- 
operative Reconstruction  Society  at  Reims;  the  late 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

John  Kendrick  Bangs  of  the  American  Committee  for 
Devastated  France;  the  American  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Paris,  and  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

William  MacDonald. 
Paris,  January,  1922. 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION 

An  order  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions 
issued  on  August  12,  1919,  defined  the  limits  of  the 
devastated  area  of  France  as  including: 

1.  All  the  territory  invaded  and  temporarily  occupied  in 
force  by  the  enemy  for  a  period  long  enough  to  give  it  over 
to  pillage  and  destruction,  from  the  first  advance  of  the 
Germans  in  1914  to  their  last  offensive  in  1918. 

2.  The  regions  close  to  the  front  which  had  to  be  evacu- 
ated by  the  civil  population  under  the  pressure  of  war,  and 
in  which  enemy  bombardment,  defensive  measures,  and  con- 
ditions due  to  military  operations  resulted  in  the  destruction 
of  real  or  personal  property  or  in  other  losses  of  any  kind. 

3.  The  regions  adjoining  those  just  mentioned  which, 
without  having  been  invaded  or  evacuated,  nevertheless 
suffered  in  a  general  way  from  the  operations  of  the  war. 

Laid  down  on  the  map,  the  invaded  area  thus  de- 
fined comprises  all  the  territory  of  France  east  or  north 
of  a  line  which,  beginning  with  the  coast  line  of  the 
departments  of  the  Nord,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  the 
Somme,  follows  thence  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
Somme,  the  western  and  southern  boundaries  of  the 
department  of  the  Oise  and  of  the  arrondissements  of 


2  ''■'  R£G(3NSTRUCTI0N  IN  FRANCE 

Meaux,  Coulommiers,  and  Provins  in  the  department 
of  Seine-et-Marne,  the  southern  boundary  of  the  de- 
partment of  the  Marne  and  the  communes  of  Semoine, 
Mailly-le-Camp,  and  Poivres  in  the  department  of  the 
Aube,  the  southern  boundary  of  the  department  of  the 
Meuse,  the  southern  and  western  boundaries  of  the 
department  of  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  the  southern  and 
western  boundaries  of  the  arrondissements  of  Epinal 
and  Remiremont  in  the  department  of  the  Vosges,  and 
the  southern  and  western  boundaries  of  the  territory 
of  Belfort  to  the  Swiss  border. 

The  area  included  within  the  terms  of  the  official 
definition,  embracing  twelve  departments  in  whole  or 
in  part  and  the  territory  of  Belfort,  is  considerably 
greater  than  the  actual  area  of  German  occupation. 
To  the  west,  the  extreme  limit  of  the  German  advance 
in  1918  extended  only  a  short  distance  west  of  the 
narrow  "peninsula  of  Armentieres"  which  connects  the 
two  parts  of  the  department  of  the  Nord,  and  em- 
braced about  one-fourth  of  the  department  of  the  Pas- 
de-Calais  and  less  than  half  of  the  department  of  the 
Somme.  In  the  first  German  advance,  in  1914,  less 
than  half  of  the  departments  of  the  Oise  and  Seine-et- 
Marne  was  occupied,  and  the  department  of  the  Aube 
was  barely  entered.  The  southern  third  and  the  ex- 
treme northern  portion  of  the  department  of  the 
Meuse  escaped  German  occupation,  as  did  all  but  the 
northeastern  edge  of  the  department  of  Meurthe-et- 
Moselle  and  the  larger  part  of  the  department  of  the 
Vosges.  The  departments  of  the  Seine,  Seine-et-Oise, 
Seine-et-Loire,  Seine-Inferieure,  Haute-Saone,  Haute- 
Marne,  and  Doubs,  in  all  of  which  the  government  has 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  3 

been  called  upon  to  evaluate  war  damages,1  also  fall 
outside  the  invaded  area  as  officially  defined. 

The  order  of  August  12  offers  no  explanation  of  this 
discrepancy.  What  it  does  is  to  set  apart  for  the  ad- 
ministrative purposes  of  reconstruction  a  longer  and 
compact  area  comprising  twelve  departments  in  whole 
or  in  part  besides  the  territory  of  Belfort,  which  was 
not  only  given  over  as  a  whole  to  military  occupation, 
either  by  the  Germans  or  by  the  French  and  the  Allies, 
but  in  which  also  the  civil  life  was  more  or  less  com- 
pletely suspended.  The  larger  part  of  the  Nord,  the 
Pas-de-Calais,  the  Somme,  and  the  Oise,  for  example, 
was  in  general  completely  disorganized  by  the  war, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  scores  of  communes  in 
those  departments  never  saw  a  German  soldier  except 
as  a  prisoner  and  did  not  suffer  from  German  guns.  If 
confusion  is  to  be  avoided,  however,  the  distinction 
between  the  official  invaded  area  and  the  area  which  is 
popularly  spoken  of  as  devastated  must  constantly  be 
kept  in  mind.2 

The  total  area  of  the  liberated  regions  as  defined  in 
the  ministerial  order  of  August  12  is  upwards  of  25,000 
square  miles,  or  somewhat  less  than  one-eighth  of  the 

xSee,  for  example,  the  Journal  Ofllciel  (1918),  1,877,  2,212,  6,223, 
9,119,  10,752;  ibid.  (1919),  317,  7,028,  7,179,  7,549,  10,925,  11,969. 

a  The  order  of  August  12,  1919,  was  issued  for  the  purpose  of  defin- 
ing the  territorial  limits  within  which  the  law  of  April  17,  1919, 
relating  to  war  damages,  should  be  applied.  The  statement  of  limits 
in  the  law  of  April  17  is  vague.  A  law  of  August  9,  1920,  relating  to 
the  supply  of  bread  for  the  country,  defined  the  devastated  regions 
as  "those  which,  between  January  1,  1915,  and  November  11,  1918, 
were  occupied  in  a  permanent  or  temporary  way  by  the  enemy,  or 
which  formed  part  of  the  fighting  zone,  or  which,  being  situated  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  front,  were  evacuated  under  the  pres- 
sure of  war  conditions."  The  Aube  department  is  not  generally 
regarded  as  forming  part  of  the  so-called  liberated  regions. 


4  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

total  area  of  France.  The  total  area  which  at  the 
close  of  the  war  required  restoration  to  normal  condi- 
tion was  3,337,000  hectares,  in  English  measure  8,245,- 
727  acres  or  about  12,884  square  miles.  This  latter 
area  is  somewhat  larger  than  that  of  Holland,  larger 
by  nearly  fifteen  hundred  square  miles  than  that  of 
Belgium,  and  a  trifle  greater  than  the  combined  areas 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  At  the  date  of  the 
armistice,  November  11,  1918,  about  one-half  of  this 
area  was  in  a  condition  demanding  little  more  than  a 
comparatively  simple  clearing  away  of  military  equip- 
ment and  debris;  the  remainder  required  extensive 
work,  while  for  116,640  hectares  the  estimated  cost  of 
restoration  exceeded  the  value  of  the  land. 

The  invasion  of  France  in  1914-1918  differed  radi- 
cally in  character  and  results  from  that  which  at- 
tended the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870-1871.  In 
1870-1871  the  German  armies,  entering  France  from 
the  east  and  northeast,  encountered  no  serious  obstacle 
except  at  Metz,  and  moved  rapidly  across  the  country 
to  the  siege  of  Paris.  The  fighting  was  of  short  dura- 
tion, there  was  no  general  evacuation  of  the  civil  popu- 
lation, the  destruction  of  public  and  private  property 
of  various  kinds  was  small,  and  there  was  no  serious 
injury  to  the  soil,  to  means  of  transpprt,  or  to  industry. 
[JB--44&4-4&18,  e»--trre-~otfeer-4iandt,^fne  battle  front 
traversed  practically  the  entire  breadth  of  northern 
France  from  the  Channel  to  the  Swiss  border,  ad- 
vancing and  receding  over  larger  areas  as  one  side  or 
the  other  gained  or  lost;  a  considerable  part  of  the 
invaded  area  was  for  more  than  four  years  in  German 
hands,  at  the  same  time  that  the  remainder  was  the 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  5 

scene  of  military  operations  on  an  unprecedented  scale 
by  the  French  and  the  Allies;  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
civil  population  was  either  held  within  the  German 
lines  or  evacuated  to  other  parts  of  France;  while  to 
the  inevitable  losses  of  war  was  added  a  colossal  weight 
of  pillage  and  destruction  deliberately  aimed  at  the 
devastation  of  the  country  and  the  prostration  of  in- 
dustry/) Not  since  modern  history  began  has  Europe 
seen  such  widespread  and  comprehensive  desolation  as 
a  result  of  war.  The  only  comparable  illustrations,  and 
those  on  a  small  scale,  are  the  ravages  of  the  Thirty 
Years*  war  in  Germany  and  the  destruction  which 
attended  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea  in  the  American 
Civil  War. 

Certain  physiographical  characteristics  of  the  in- 
vaded departments,  which  determined  to  a  consider- 
able extent  the  course  of  the  German  invasion  and  the 
Allied  defense,  affected  also  the  extent  and  character 
of  the  devastation  wrought.  The  prompt  action  of  the 
French  in  taking  the  offensive  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  for  the  recovery  of  Alsace  closed  the  Bourgogne 
gateway  between  the  Vosges  and  the  Jura  mountains 
which  gives  access  from  the  Rhine  to  the  valleys  of  the 
Saone,  the  Meurthe,  and  the  Moselle,  at  the  same  time 
that  the  close  proximity  of  Switzerland  rendered  diffi- 
cult a  large  German  military  operation  in  that  quarter. 
The  German  advance,  accordingly,  at  its  greatest  ex- 
tension in  1918,  penetrated  only  a  little  way  beyond 
the  eastern  border  of  France  and  failed  to  reach  the 
important  cities  of  Luneville  and  Nancy.  On  the. 
other  hand,  the  physical  difficulties  presented  by  the 
relatively  high  altitude  and  heavy  forests  of  the  Vosges 


6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

mountains  impeded  direct  access  to  France  at  that 
point,  and  in  consequence  saved  the  forests  themselves 
as  a  whole  from  serious  injury.  Only  at  a  few  points 
hotly  contested  were  the  trees  shot  to  pieces  as  was  so 
generally  the  case  in  the  Argonne.  Wherever  the 
barrier  which  protected  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  could 
be  penetrated,  however,  as  at  Pont-a-Mousson  and 
thence  to  St.  Mihiel,  a  succession  of  ruined  towns 
and  devastated  country  marked  the  progress  of  the 
conflict. 

The  strategic  position  of  Verdun,  at  the  center  of 
the  long  range  of  hills  and  valleys  known  collectively 
as  the  Hauts-de-Meuse,  marked  that  city  and  its  de- 
fenses as  a  point  about  which  was  to  be  waged  one  of 
the  most  stubborn  and  bitter  struggles  of  the  war. 
The  position  of  the  German  line,  which  in  1914  swept 
around  Verdun  on  the  east,  the  north,  and  the  west 
like  an  inverted  U,  with  the  Meuse  occupying  the 
center,  naturally  meant  the  devastation  of  the  narrow 
intervening  area.  Nowhere  in  France  is  there  now  to 
be  seen  a  more  vivid  combination  of  rugged  country 
dotted  with  the  remains  of  forts  and  artillery  emplace- 
ments, of  soil  torn  by  trenches,  shell  holes,  and  mine 
craters,  and  of  forests  shattered  by  shell  fire  and  cities 
and  villages  in  ruins.  From  whatever  quarter  one 
approaches  Verdun,  the  ravages  of  war  stand  out  on 
every  hand. 

A  line  drawn  from  Troyes,  in  the  department  of  the 
Aube,  northward  through  Reims  to  Valenciennes, 
marks  roughly  the  division  between  the  hilly  wooded 
country  of  eastern  France  and  the  rolling  hills  and 
broad  plains  of  the  west.  The  Haute-Marne  plateau 
west  of  the  Vosges  is  connected  with  the  broken  region 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  7 

of  the  Ardennes  by  the  rough  and  wooded  Argonne, 
and  both  the  Argonne  and  the  Ardennes  saw  some  of 
the  hardest  fighting  of  the  war. 

Further  north  the  physical  configuration  of  the 
country  offered  no  obstacles  to  invasion  from  the  Bel- 
gian side,  and  it  was  through  this  wide  northern  gate- 
way that  the  German  armies  poured  in  the  greatest 
numbers  and  the  most  powerful  streams  into  the  Aisne, 
the  Somme,  the  Oise,  and  the  Marne.  By  September, 
1914,  the  German  advance  had  reached  Meaux,  thirty 
miles  from  Paris,  and  extended  eastward  from  Meaux 
toward  Chalons-sur-Marne  and  the  Argonne  and  west- 
ward toward  Senlis  and  Beauvais.  The  battle  of  the 
Marne,  which  forced  the  entire  German  line  back  be- 
yond the  river,  was  followed  by  a  series  of  operations 
which  turned  the  whole  region  west  of  the  Argonne 
and  south  of  the  Belgian  frontier  as  far  as  Arras  and 
Amiens,  and  thence  south  to  Compiegne  and  Chateau- 
Thierry,  into  one  vast  battlefield,  at  the  same  time 
that  the  resistance  at  Verdun  was  being  maintained. 

The  Marne  battle  was  followed  in  1915  by  the  battle 
of  Champagne,  in  the  region  immediately  west  of  the 
Argonne  and  north  of  Chalons-sur-Marne.  The  battle 
of  the  Somme,  east  of  Amiens,  in  1916  was  followed 
in  1917  by  the  battle  of  the  Aisne  in  the  region  north 
of  Chateau-Thierry.  In  1918  the  German  front,  which 
in  consequence  of  these  various  operations  had  been 
pushed  back  beyond  the  river  Aisne,  regained  for  a 
time  a  large  part  of  what  had  been  lost,  only  to  be 
checked  in  its  advance  and  pressed  steadily  backward 
again  until  the  armistice  of  November  brought  a  sus- 
pension of  hostilities. 

The  first  months  of  the  war  witnessed  also  the  Ger- 


8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

man  occupation  of  more-  than  half  of  the  department  of 
the  Nord  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Pas-de- 
Calais.  The  region  of  which  Arras  was  the  center  saw 
the  three  Artois  battles  of  1916,  and  was  again  the 
scene  of  hard  fighting  the  following  year.  The  German 
front,  which  in  1915  ran  south  from  Ypres  through 
Armentieres  and  La  Bassee  to  Arras,  reached  in  1918 
almost  to  Hazebrouck,  and  the  Armentieres  peninsula 
remained  a  "red  zone''  throughout  the  war. 

It  is  in  the  broad  area  west  of  the  Haute-Marne,  the 
Argonne,  the  Ardennes,  and  the  Belgian  border,  and 
north  of  Meaux  and  the  Marne  to  Armentieres,  that 
the  destruction  wrought  by  the  war  is  still  to  be  seen 
at  its  greatest  extent  and  in  its  most  appalling  dreari- 
ness. The  advances  and  recessions  of  a  battle  line 
more  than  two  hundred  miles  long,  the  thrusts  and 
counter-thrusts  of  invaders  and  defenders,  the  strug- 
gles for  the  control  of  rivers,  railways,  and  highways, 
the  fierce  fighting  over  strategic  positions  and  the 
stubborn  defense  of  every  city  or  village  where  a  stand 
could  be  made,  were  of  themselves  enough,  without  the 
added  weight  of  a  deliberate  destruction,  to  turn  large 
parts  of  the  country  into  a  desert  and  to  leave  of  civili- 
zation only  a  memory  and  a  name.  If  the  war  made 
familiar  to  the  world  the  names  of  Armentieres,  Lens, 
Arras,  Peronne,  St.  Quentin,  Soissons,  Reims,  and  St. 
Menehould,  it  is  also  true  that  because  these  communi- 
ties, like  hundreds  of  others  of  lesser  fame,  were  long 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fighting  they  were  all  but  com- 
pletely ruined.  Not  all  of  the  destruction,  of  course, 
was  the  work  of  the  enemy,  save  as  responsibility  at- 
taches to  the  enemy  as  the  aggressor;  for  what  one 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  9 

army  did  not  overrun  had  often  to  suffer  from  the 
operations  of  the  other,  and  it  was  as  disastrous  to  a 
town  or  a  farmhouse  to  dislodge  an  invader  as  it  was  to 
resist  an  attack. 

The  broken  and  wooded  region  of  northeastern 
France,  physiographically  a  part  of  the  same  area  to 
which  Alsace  and  Lorraine  belong,  is  often  strikingly 
picturesque.  The  western  part  of  the  invaded  area,  on 
the  other  hand,  while  by  no  means  wanting  in  physio- 
graphical  interest,  lacks  picturesqueness.  It  is  a  region 
of  broad  valleys  only  slightly  elevated  above  the  sea, 
separated  by  long  rolling  hills  over  which  the  plain 
sweeps  easily  in  a  succession  of  low  waves.  In  the 
Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais,  where  the  hills  flatten 
out,  the  broad  expanses  of  level  country  bear  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  grain  areas  of  the.  United  States 
and  western  Canada.  The  river  basin  of  the  Seine, 
which  includes  those  of  the  Marne,  the  Oise,  and  the 
Aisne,  comprises  more  than  30,000  square  miles  of 
territory,  and  is  the  most  important  network  of  navi- 
gable rivers  in  France.  An  extensive  system  of  canals, 
connecting  and  in  some  cases  paralleling  the  rivers, 
gives  access  from  the  sea  to  practically  the  whole 
interior. 

The  total  population  of  the  departments  included  in 
the  ministerial  order  of  August  12,  1919,  was  in  1911 
about  7,000,000,  or  more  than  one-seventh  of  the  total 
population  of  France.  The  estimated  population  in 
1914  of  the  region  actually  invaded  or  devastated  was 
4,690,183,  or  about  one-eighth  of  the  total  population 
of  France  in  1911  and  three-fifths  of  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  invaded  departments.    With  the  exception 


10  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  Nancy,  which  had  in  1911  a  population  of  119,949, 
and  Reims,  whose  population  at  the  same  date  num- 
bered 115,178,  the  largest  centers  of  population  were 
to  be  found  in  the  industrial  and  mining  regions  of  the 
north  and  west,  where  Lille,  the  largest  city  in  the 
invaded  area,  had  217,807,  the  neighboring  cities  of 
Roubaix  and  Tourcoing  122,723  and  82,644  respec- 
tively, Valenciennes  34,766,  Douai  36,314,  Armentieres 
28,625,  Lens- 31,812,  Arras  20,080,  and  Amiens  93,207. 
Three  large  maritime  cities — Calais  with  72,322  in- 
habitants, Dunkerque  with  38,891,  and  Boulogne-sur- 
Mer  with  53,128 — lie  outside  the  zone  of  land  opera- 
tions. Elsewhere  the  cities  were  small.  With  the 
exception  of  Reims,  the  only  cities  whose  population 
exceeded  20,000  in  1911  were  St.  Quentin  with  55,571, 
Chalons-sur-Marne  with  31,367,  Maubeuge  with  23,- 
209,  Charleville  with  22,654,  Epernay  with  21,811,  and 
Verdun  with  21,701.  Of  the  3,524  communes  occupied 
.by  the  Germans,  95  per  cent,  were  communities  of  a 
few  hundred  or  one  or  two  thousand  inhabitants  each. 
Everywhere,  even  in  the  industrial  and  mining  centers, 
the  population  was  overwhelmingly  French  in  origin, 
speechz  and  allegiance. 

The  predominant  industry  of  the  invaded  depart- 
ments was  agriculture.  Of  the  3,337,000  hectares  in 
the  devastated  zone,  2,164,727  hectares  were  under 
cultivation  in  1914  and  406,330  hectares  were  in  pas- 
turage. Even  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  indus- 
trial or  mining  towns  the  arable  land  was  put  to  use, 
and  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  eastern  departments  were 
everywhere  in  crops  or  in  pasturage.  The  coal  region 
of  the  north  has  been  likened  to  a  great  city  whose 
quarters  were  separated  by  well-cultivated  fields. 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  11 

This  agricultural  development  was  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  physiographical  conditions.  Throughout  the 
plain  and  rolling  country  of  the  center,  the  north,  and 
the  west  the  soil  is  generally  fertile  and  the  climate 
moist  and  moderately  warm.  Most  of  the  grains  of  the 
temperate  zone — wheat,  barley,  rye,  oats,  etc. — thrive 
throughout  the  region,  and  northwestern  France  in 
particular  was  a  granary  which  skillful  and  intensive 
cultivation  had  developed  to  the  utmost.  Before  the 
war  France  was  second  only  to  Russia  among  Euro- 
pean countries  in  the  production  of  wheat,  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  cereal  acreage  being  devoted  to  that  crop, 
while  of  the  remaining  acreage  about  one-half  was 
devoted  to  oats.  To  the  production  of  grain  was  also 
added  a  considerable  production  of  hay,  flax,  hemp, 
and  hops.  In  the  Nord,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  the  Somme, 
the  Oise,  and  the  Aisne  the  production  of  sugar  beets 
was  an  industry  of  prime  importance,  and  the  wines 
of  Champagne  had  an  established  reputation.  The 
development  of  market  gardening,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  spite  of  the  presence  of  industrial  cities  and  the 
proximity  of  Paris,  had  not  attained  large  dimensions, 
and  fruit  growing  for  market  was  mainly  confined  to 
the  northwest. 

It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  large  scale 
farming  is  not  the  predominant  characteristic  of 
French  agriculture.  Even  in  the  grain-growing  regions 
of  the  Nord,  where  the  wheat  fields  extend  for  miles 
on  either  hand,  farms  of  more  than  fifty  hectares  are 
rare  and  farms  of  ten  hectares  or  less  are  the  rule.  It 
is  this  system  of  small  farms,  cultivated  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases  by  their  owners  and  subject  to  fur- 
ther and  repeated  subdivisions  under  the  operation  of 


12  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  French  law  of  inheritance,  which  predominates 
throughout  the  invaded  area.  With  such  a  system  the 
production  of  staples  in  large  quantities  by  individual 
proprietors  is  impossible,  hand  labor  holds  its  own 
against  elaborate  and  expensive  machinery,  crop  areas 
are  small  even  to  diminutiveness,  and  the  farm  tends 
to  become  and  to  remain  a  little  self-supporting  unit 
upon  which  the  larger  part  of  what  is  produced  is  con- 
sumed. The  variety  of  products  is  considerable,  but 
the  quantity  of  each  product  is  small  and  compara- 
tively little  is  raised  primarily  for  sale. 

It  is  this  predominance  of  small  farms  with  intensive 
cultivation  and  a  varied  production  which  explains  in 
large  part  the  peculiar  attachment  of  the  French  peas- 
ant and  small  proprietor  to  his  land,  the  deep  sense  of 
loss  which  is  felt  when  buildings,  orchards,  or  fields  are 
injured  even  as  a  result  of  war,  and  the  ineradicable 
desire  to  return  even  when  everything  above  ground 
has  been  destroyed  and  the  soil  itself  for  the  time  being 
put  out  of  use.  It  was  less  because  the  farm  was,  in 
any  ordinary  financial  sense,  a  business  or  a  source  of 
profit  than  because  it  was  his  home,  the  home  of  his 
ancestors  and  the  property  which  he  would  leave  to  his 
children,  that  the  farmer  whom  the  war  drove  out 
refused  in  most  cases  even  to  think  of  beginning  life 
again  elsewhere,  and  set  himself  resolutely  to  make 
good,  with  government  aid  or  without  it,  the  loss  which 
he  had  sustained.  There  is  no  understanding  of  the 
problem  of  reconstruction  in  France  unless  one  takes 
into  account  at  the  outset  the  invincible  attachment 
of  the  farmer  to  his  land. 

Approximately  one-eighth  of  the  devastated  area 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  13 

was  in  forests,  including  in  this  classification  the  wood- 
land privately  owned  as  well  as  the  forests  owned  and 
cultivated  by  the  state  or  by  local  communities.  Of 
the  latter,  those  of  Compiegne,  St.  Gobain,  west  of 
Laon,  and  Reims,  between  that  city  and  Epernay,  were 
the  most  important  in  the  south,  and  those  of  the 
Argonne  and  the  Vosges  in  the  east.  The  region  south 
of  Soissons,  between  Villers-Cotterets,  Chateau- 
Thierry,  and  Epernay — between  the  German  fronts  of 
1915  and  1917  to  the  north  and  the  extreme  limit  of  the 
German  advance  of  1918  to  the  south — is  also  exten- 
sively wooded.  The  northern  and  western  regions,  on 
the  other  hand,  possess  few  forests  of  special  conse- 
quence except  those  of  the  Avesnes  area,  in  the  extreme 
eastern  portion  of  the  department  of  the  Nord. 

The  developed  mineral  wealth  of  devastated  France 
consisted  principally  of  coal  and  iron.  The  coal  basin 
of  the  north,  in  the  department  of  the  Nord  and  the 
Pas-de-Calais,  extends  from  Valenciennes  westward  to 
Denain,  Douai,  Lens,  and  Bethune.  Of  the  various 
concessions  under  which  the  mines  are  worked  that  of 
Anzin,  near  Valenciennes,  is  the  largest.  About  55  per 
cent,  of  the  total  annual  coal  production  of  France  was 
furnished  by  the  invaded  departments.  The  iron  de- 
posits are  in  the  east.  Before  the  loss  of  Lorraine,  in 
1871,  the  mines  of  the  then  department  of  the  Moselle 
occupied  the  first  place  in  the  production  of  iron  ore; 
and  in  spite  of  the  territorial  losses  which  were  sus- 
tained, the  present  department  of  Meurthe-et-Moselle, 
representing  what  was  left  to  France  of  the  former 
departments  of  the  Meurthe  and  the  Moselle,  fur- 
nished before  the  war  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the 


14  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

total  ore  production  of  France,  and  is  in  fact  one  of 
the  chief  ore-producing  regions  of  the  world.  The 
production  of  roofing  slates,  mainly  in  the  Ardennes, 
was  surpassed  in  value  only  by  that  of  Great  Britain. 

In  1914  there  were,  in  the  devastated  zone,  20,539 
industrial  establishments  of  all  kinds.  About  70  per 
cent,  of  the  plants  were  to  be  found  in  the  Nord,  the 
Pas-de-Calais,  and  the  Somme,  10  per  cent,  in  the 
Aisne,  and  somewhat  less  than  10  per  cent,  in  the 
Ardennes,  the  Meuse,  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  and  the 
Vosges.  Besides  coal  and  iron  ore,  the  zone  is  esti- 
mated to  have  produced  before  the  war  94  per  cent,  of 
the  total  annual  production  in  France  »of  woolen  goods, 
90  per  cent,  of  the  linen  thread,  80  per  cent,  of  the  pig 
iron,  70  per  cent,  of  the  sugar,  and  60  per  cent,  of  the 
cotton  goods.  It  also  generated  45  per  cent,  of  the 
electric  power.1  Included  in  the  varied  list  of  manu- 
factures which  had  attained  substantial  development 
were  hats,  paper,  pipes,  biscuits,  furniture,  cement, 
bricks,  tiles,  pottery,  glass,  and  chemicals.  The  Nord 
had  also  an  important  brewing  industry. 

The  transport  needs  of  the  region  were  met  by  a 
network  of  railways,  canals,  and  highways.  The  main 
lines  of  railway,  grouped  chiefly  in  two  systems,  those 
of  the  Nord  and  the  Est  companies,  and  radiating  from 
Paris  to  the  frontiers  of  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  and 
Germany,  were  supplemented  not  only  by  branch  lines 
and  by  numerous  short  lines  of  private  companies  but 
also  by  hundreds  of  kilometres  of  local  narrow-gauge 
lines.  All  of  the  larger  cities  had  electric-tramway 
systems  and  suburban   and   interurban   service  was 

*A.  Tardieu,  The  Truth  about  the  Treaty,  378. 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  15 

growing.  The  extent  of  the  transport  system  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  2,404  kilometres  of  railway 
main  lines  and  branches,  906  kilometres  of  local  lines, 
1,036  kilometres  of  navigable  waterways,  and  52,734 
kilometres  of  highways  were  in  need  of  reconstruction 
or  repair  at  the  close  of  the  war.1 

The  briefest  survey  of  the  departments  upon  which 
in  August,  1914,  the  great  war  descended  in  all  its 
frightfulness  would  be  incomplete  if  it  failed  to  take 
note  of  the  wealth  of  historical  and  artistic  interest 
which  the  region  held.  The  ancient  province  of  Cham- 
pagne, united  finally  to  the  kingdom  of  France  in  1361, 
was  in  general  coextensive  with  the  present  depart- 
ments of  the  Marne,  Haute-Marne,  and  Aube,  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Seine-et-Marne,  and  various  small 
portions  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Aisne.    By  1789  it  had 

1  Numerous  estimates  of  the  injury  done  to  the  devastated  depart- 
ments have  been  published.  The  following  data,  prepared  by  "the 
head  of  one  of  the  great  French  banks"  and  published  in  the  circular 
of  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York  for  August,  1920,  may  be 
compared  with  the  figures  given  in  this  chapter.  According  to  this 
authority  the  invaded  part  of  France  paid  in  *913  a  revenue  of 
800,000,000  francs,  out  of  a  total  revenue  of  5,100,000,000  francs  col- 
lected by  the  government.  The  same  territory  also  represented  14 
per  cent,  of  the  total  French  production  of  wheat,  47  per  cent,  of 
the  sugar,  55  per  cent,  of  the  flax,  74  per  cent,  of  the  coal,  92  per 
cent,  of  the  iron  ore,  81  per  cent,  of  the  iron,  60  per  cent,  of  the  steel, 
20  per  cent,  of  the  tools,  machinery,  etc.,  80  per  cent,  of  the  woolen 
products,  70  per  cent,  of  the  cotton  products,  and  20  per  cent,  of  the 
export  trade.  The  considerable  differences,  often  irreconcilable,  be- 
tween these  various  estimates  may  perhaps  be  explained  by  the  fact 
that  the  figures  for  the  same  year  are  not  necessarily  those  of  the 
same  date  within  the  year,  or  by  the  habit  of  making  exhibits  in 
round  numbers  rather  than  in  exact  figures,  or  by  the  mixing  of 
official  and  unofficial  estimates,  or  by  basing  the  calculation  at  one 
time  upon  the  entire  area  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions  and  at  another  time  upon  the  smaller 
area  actually  invaded.  Even  the  official  estimates,  including  those 
apparently  based  upon  detailed  enumeration,  show  a  good  many 
variations  in  detail  which  cannot  easily  be  explained. 


16  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

come  to  include  also  the  department  of  the  Ardennes. 
Conquered  by  the  Romans,  traces  of  whose  occupation 
survived  at  Reims,  Laon,  and  elsewhere,  and  Christian- 
ized in  the  latter  half  of  the  third  century,  it  suffered 
from  the  invasions  of  the  Vandals  and  the  Huns,  and 
upon  the  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  authority  came 
under  the  rule  of  Clovis,  the  chief  of  the  Franks,  who 
embraced  Christianity  and  was  baptized  at  Reims  in 
496.  Numerous  partitions  of  the  province,  attended 
with  frequent  wars,  followed.  In  814  Louis  "the 
Debonnaire"  was  crowned  at  Reims ;  Charles  the  Sim- 
ple was  made  prisoner  at  St.  Quentin  and  imprisoned 
at  Chateau-Thierry  and  later  at  Peronne,  where  he  died 
in  929.  Reims,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  cities  of 
Roman  Gaul,  was  also  from  the  time  of  the  Capetians 
the  place  at  which  all  but  two  of  the  early  kings  of 
France  were  crowned.  The  emancipation  of  the  com- 
munes of  Champagne  from  feudal  control  began  at  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  charter  of  Beaument- 
en-Argonne,  granted  by  the  archbishop  of  Reims,  serv- 
ing as  a  model. 

The  Hundred  Years'  war  between  England  and 
France  (1327-1453)  was  disastrous  for  Champagne. 
English  troops  under  the  Prince  of  Wales  ravaged  the 
country  from  Epernay  to  Vitry  and  Chalons-sur- 
Marne  in  1368,  and  the  attacks  were  repeated  in  1370 
and  1373.  Meaux  was  sacked  by  the  English,  after  an 
heroic  defense,  in  1421.  The  tide  turned  in  1429  when 
Jeanne  d'Arc,  a  native  of  Champagne,  having  inspired 
the  French  to  free  Orleans,  led  Charles  VII  to  Reims, 
where  he  was  consecrated.  The  peace  of  1453,  which 
ended  a  struggle  in  which  the  English  lost  all  the  terri- 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  17 

tory  claimed  by  them  in  France  except  Calais,  was 
followed  by  ninety  years  of  much  needed  quiet.  Then, 
in  1544,  in  the  war  between  Francis  I  of  France  and 
Charles  V  of  Spain,  Vitry  was  burned  by  the  Spanish 
forces,  Epernay  taken,  and  Chateau-Thierry  pillaged. 
Peace  was  concluded  the  same  year  at  Crepy,  near 
Laon,  and  a  new  Vitry-le-Francois  was  built  by  the 
king  to  replace  the  Vitry  which  had  been  destroyed. 
The  country  was  again  ravaged  in  the  religious  wars 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

There  is  hardly  an  important  city  in  the  whole 
invaded  area  whose  origin,  like  that  of  the  cities  of 
Champagne,  does  not  lie  far  back  in  the  centuries  in 
which  what  ultimately  became  the  kingdom  of  France 
was  being  formed,  while  more  than  one  had  witnessed 
the  struggles  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  or  the  entrance 
of  German  troops  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870- 
1871.  Soissons,  which  became  in  511  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  of  Neustria  and  "the  cradle  of  the  Frankish 
monarchy/ '  was  bombarded  by  the  Germans  for  four 
days  in  1870  before  it  surrendered.  Laon,  an  ancient 
Roman  city  and  later  the  seat  of  the  last  Carolingian 
kings,  was  held  by  the  English  from  1410  to  1429,  and 
blew  up  its  powder  magazine  in  the  citadel  when  the 
Germans  entered  in  1870.  Reims  was  an  ecclesiastical 
as  well  as  a  political  center,  no  less  than  four  church 
councils,  those  of  1049,  1119,  1131,  and  1148,  having 
assembled  there.  At  Verdun,  another  Roman  city, 
was  concluded  the  agreement  or  treaty  of  843  by  which 
Charles  the  Great  divided  his  empire  between  his  three 
sons,  Lothaire,  Louis,  and  Charles.  In  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  in  1648,  which  ended  the  Thirty  Years, 


18  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

war,  Austria  renounced  in  favor  of  France  its  claim  to 
the  three  ancient  bishoprics  of  Verdun,  Toul,  and 
Metz.  Verdun  was  bombarded  by  the  Germans  in 
1870  and  surrendered  only  with  the  honors  of  war. 
Metz  was  besieged  and  taken  by  the  Germans  in  1870  a 
few  weeks  after  the  surrender  of  Napoleon  III  at 
Sedan.  By  the  peace  of  Luneville,  in  1801,  between 
France,  Germany,  and  Austria,  the  boundary  of  France 
was  extended  to  the  Rhine,  where  it  remained  until 
the  Franco-Prussian  war  gave  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  in- 
cluding Metz,  to  Germany. 

Of  equal  interest  historically  are  the  cities  of  the 
Oise,  the  Somme,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  the  Nord. 
Compiegne,  long  a  favorite  residence  of  the  French 
kings,  was  also  the  place  at  which  Jeanne  d'Arc,  in 
1430,  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Bourgondians,  who 
turned  her  over  to  the  English.  Noyon  was  a  Roman 
city,  later  the  scene  of  the  consecration  of  Charles  the 
Great  in  768  and  of  the  election  of  Hugh  Capet  in  987. 
The  history  of  St.  Quentin  goes  back  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  first  century.  It  was  occupied  by  the  Spanish 
in  1557,  and  was  the  scene  of  an  important  French 
defeat  in  1871.  The  latter  year  witnessed  also  the 
defeat  of  a  French  army  'at  Bapaume.  Lille,  the 
ancient  capital  of  French  Flanders,  was  ceded  to 
France  definitely  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713, 
after  having  been  besieged  and  taken  by  Louis  XIV  in 
1667  and  retaken  by  the  armies  of  Prince  Eugene  of 
Savoy  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  in  1708.  Valen- 
ciennes, whose  beginnings  tradition  ascribes  to  the 
Roman  emperor  Valentinian,  was  taken  by  Louis  XIV 
in  1677,  and  suffered  bombardment  and  capture  by  the 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  19 

allied  British  and  Prussians  in  1815.  Amiens,  a  Gaul- 
ish city  which  Caesar  reduced  to  subjection  and  later 
the  capital  of  the  ancient  province  of  Picardy,  was 
occupied  at  different  periods  by  the  Normans,  the 
Spanish,  the  English,  and  the  French  before  Henry  IV 
of  France,  in  1597,  incorporated  it  finally  in  his  king- 
dom. In  1802,  by  the  peace  of  Amiens,  England 
ceased  for  the  time  being  its  war  with  revolutionary 
France  and  Bonaparte,  and  recognized  the  territorial 
changes  that  had  been  made. 

An  experience  similar  to  that  of  Amiens  character- 
ized the  history  of  Arras,  capital  of  the  ancient  prov- 
ince of  Artois,  which  was  claimed  in  turn  by  the  Dukes 
of  Burgundy,  the  Counts  of  Flanders,  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  and  Spain  before  passing  finally  to  France  in 
1640.  Two  international  agreements  perpetuate  the 
name  of  Cambrai:  that  of  1508,  in  which  the  Emperor 
Maximilian,  Louis  XII  of  France,  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic  of  Spain,  and  Pope  Julius  II  formed  a  league 
against  Venice,  and  the  so-called  Ladies'  Peace  of  1529 
between  the  Emperor  Charles  V  and  Francis  I  of 
France. 

To  richness  of  historical  association  is  also  to  be 
added,  although  in  less  abundant  measure,  richness  of 
artistic  interest.  The  cathedrals  of  Arras,  Amiens, 
Soissons,  Cambrai,  Noyon,  Reims,  and  Laon,  the  pal- 
ace or  chateau  at  Compiegne,  the  city  halls  at  St. 
Quentin,  Compiegne,  Soissons,  Reims,  and  Valen- 
ciennes, and  numerous  parish  churches  and  public 
buildings  were  architectural  monuments  representative 
alike  of  the  history,  the  art,  and  the  spirit  of  northern 
France.    Numerous   museums   and    libraries   housed 


20  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

valuable  collections  of  paintings,  sculpture,  furniture, 
manuscripts,  and  early  printed  books.  Couey-le- 
Chateau,  still  picturesque  in  spite  of  the  added  ruin 
which  the  war  imposed  upon  it,  was  one  of  the  most 
notable  feudal  monuments  in  western  Europe.  The 
artistic  significance  of  domestic  architecture  also,  par- 
ticularly in  the  older  cities,  often  preserving  in  facade 
or  portal  or  roof  the  characteristics  of  a  period  or  a 
school,  is  not  to  be  overlooked. 

A  brief  reference  should  perhaps  be  made  to  the 
political  organization  of  France,  since  the  administra- 
tive system  whose  operations  must  often  be  discussed 
in  the  pages  which  follow  differs  very  much  from  that 
which  obtains  in  either  England  or  the  United  States. 
Each  department  is  divided  into  arrondissements,  the 
arrondissement  into  cantons,  and  the  canton  into  com- 
munes. The  chief  administrative  official  of  the  de- 
partment is  the  prefect  (prefet),  appointed  from  Paris 
and  subject  to  removal  or  transfer  at  the  discretion  of 
the  President  of  the  Republic,  who  acts  through  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior.  With  the  prefect  is  associ- 
ated a  council  (conseil  de  prefecture) ,  and  a  sub-pre- 
fect (sous-prefet) ,  for  each  arrondissement  or  sub- 
prefecture  (sous-prefecture).  The  administration  of 
the  commune,  subject  to  the  prefect,  is  vested  in  a 
municipal  council  (conseil  municipal),  which  chooses 
one  of  its  number  as  mayor  (moire).  There  is  also  in 
each  department  a  general  council  (conseil  general), 
with  as  many  members  <as  there  are  cantons  in  the 
department,  and  in  each  arrondissement  a  conseil 
d' arrondissement,  with  as  many  members  as  there  are 
cantons  in  the  arrondissement.     Each  department  is 


THE  THEATER  OF  INVASION  21 

represented  in  the  Senate  by  a  number  of  senators,  and 
in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  by  a  number  of  deputies, 
apportioned  in  each  case  according  to  population.  In 
comparison  with  the  United  States  or  England  the 
administration  is  highly  centralized,  and  there  is  in 
practice  little  local  independence,  virtually  every 
action  of  the  commune,  the  canton,  or  the  arrondisse- 
ment  requiring  the  approval  of  the  prefect,  who  is 
himself  minutely  controlled  from  Paris. 

Such  was  the  region,  rich  in  history  and  tradition 
and  in  agricultural,  industrial,  and  commercial  devel- 
opment, upon  which  the  great  war  fell  like  a  bolt  from 
a  clear  sky. 


CHAPTER  II 

WHAT  THE   WAR   DID 

For  more  than  four  years  and  three  months,  from 
August,  1914,  to  November,  1918,  the  present  dev- 
astated zone  of  France  underwent  the  experience  of 
war.    No  considerable  part  of  the  zone,  including  the 
territory  within  twenty  or  thirty  miles  of  the  German 
front,  was  long  free  during  that  entire  period  from 
active  military  operations.    Far  the  larger  part  of  the 
zone,  moreover,   was   continuously  occupied  by   the 
Germans  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  the 
armistice;  and  while  long-continued  enemy  occupation 
of  an  invaded  region  does  not  of  itself  necessarily 
mean  undue  injury  to  private  or  public  property,  it 
makes  possible,  once  a  regime  of  destruction  is  entered 
upon,  a  more  systematic  and  general  devastation  than 
would  be  likely  otherwise  to  take  place.    A  very  large 
part  of  the  injury  which  the  invaded  departments  suf- 
fered was  of  a  comprehensive  and  systematic  charac- 
ter, carefully  planned  and  thoroughly  executed.    Much 
of  the  injury  which  was  caused  by  the  Germans  served 
no  proper  military  purpose  and  was  the  result  of  no 
military  necessity,   but   aimed  rather  to  break   the 
morale  of  the  French  and  cripple  the  country  for  years 
to  come.    Some  of  it  was  wanton,  the  work  of  lawless- 
ness in  uniform.    Some  portion,  doubtless,  was  acci- 

22 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  23 

dental.  The  rest  was  the  inevitable  result  of  war. 
Morally  and  sentimentally  these  various  categories  can 
be  discriminated,  and  they  must  be  so  discriminated 
where  questions  of  responsibility  are  involved.  For 
purposes  of  reconstruction,  on  the  other  hand,  they  all 
stand  upon  the  same  plane. 

The  casual  traveler  who  flits  across  the  devastated 
area  in  an  automobile  or  a  railway  train  is  likely  to 
receive  a  vivid  but  conglomerate  impression  of  ruined 
houses  and  churches,  fields  scarred  by  trenches  and 
shell  holes,  treetops  shot  to  pieces,  heaps  of  barbed 
wire  or  other  debris  cumbering  the  ground,  abandoned 
locomotives  and  railway  cars,  lines  of  rusty  railway 
track  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds,  and  innumera- 
ble temporary  houses  and  barraques.  The  impression 
is  accurate  enough  and  is  certainly  one  not  soon  to  be 
forgotten,  but  it  nevertheless  gives  hardly  more  than  a 
superficial  idea  of  the  character  and  extent  of  the  in- 
jury which  the  war  entailed,  or  of  the  novelty  and 
complexity  of  the  problems  which  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  devastated  zone  presented.  Not  only  is  it  true 
that  no  modern  war  has  been  attended  by  such  general 
and  thoroughgoing  destruction  of  property,  but  it  is 
also  true  that  in  no  war  has  the  task  of  restoration 
been  so  vast,  so  difficult,  and  so  involved. 

Down  to  the  time  of  the  armistice,  in  November, 
1918,  3,524  communes  had  been  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  and  805  communes  not  actually  occupied  had 
been  evacuated  by  the  civil  population  on  account  of 
the  war.1    Of  this  number  1,039  were  completely  de- 

1  The  statistics  in  this  and  the  following  chapters,  unless  otherwise 
noted,  are  those  prepared  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions. 


24  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

stroyed,  1,235  were  more  than  50  per  cent,  injured,  and 
the  larger  part  of  the  remainder  were  injured  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent.  In  the  4,329  communes  occu- 
pied or  evacuated,  293,039  dwellings  were  destroyed 
and  435,961  seriously  injured.  The  number  of  public 
buildings — town  halls,  schools,  churches,  etc. — de- 
stroyed was  6,147,  while  the  number  which  suffered 
serious  injury  was  10,731.  In  3,256  communes  the 
municipal  life  was  suspended,  either  completely  as  a 
result  of  the  destruction  of  the  commune  and  the 
evacuation  of  its  inhabitants,  or  more  or  less  com- 
pletely in  consequence  of  military  occupation. 

The  injury  to  buildings  took  every  conceivable  form. 
Of  some  small  communes  it  was  almost  literally  true 
that  not  one  stone  was  left  upon  another,  and  cases 
were  not  uncommon  in  which  owners  who  returned 
after  the  armistice  were  unable  to  locate  the  bound- 
aries of  their  properties.  Guides  still  point  to  grass- 
grown  areas  of  rough  ground  where  once  stood  a  village 
of  which  not  a  stone  is  now  visible,  and  the  Vosges,  the 
Marne,  and  the  Somme  contain  villages  which  exist 
to-day  only  in  the  form  of  stone  heaps  or  jagged  frag- 
ments of  walls.  Of  many  other  buildings  only  the 
foundations  were  left,  and  in  many  instances  even 
foundations  were  broken  down  or  blown  to  pieces. 
The  buildings  which  were  not  leveled  to  the  ground 
presented  injuries  of  the  greatest  variety.  Some  re- 
tained only  fragments  of  their  walls,  the  roofs  and  the 
entire  interior  construction  having  been  destroyed. 
With  some  the  outer  walls  were  in  the  main  intact,  but 
roofs  and  partition  walls  were  gone.  Others  still 
boasted  a  roof,  but  torn  and  almost  ruined  by  bom- 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  25 

bardment.  In  some  the  interior  had  been  burned  out, 
leaving  only  the  shell.  The  collapse  of  walls  and  roofs 
often  carried  with  it  the  floors,  and  the  interior,  even 
where  fire  had  destroyed  everything  combustible,  was 
still  a  tangled  mass  of  stone,  brick,  mortar,  and  twisted 
metal. 

There  were  important  or  curious  exceptions,  of 
course.  Proportionately,  it  was  usually  the  smallest 
communes  that  suffered  most.  Even  with  them,  how- 
ever, cases  were  not  wanting  in  which  a  part  only  of 
the  village  was  destroyed  or  in  which  a  few  houses,  a 
church,  or  a  public  building  somehow  survived  the 
wreck.  In  the  larger  cities  the  devastation  as  a  rule 
was  less  general.  Many  houses  and  other  buildings  in 
Verdun  escaped  serious  injury  notwithstanding  the 
long  siege,  and  the  cathedral,  the  most  conspicuous 
object  in  the  city,  escaped  demolition  while  near-by 
property  was  destroyed.  The  older  part  of  Laon,  pic- 
turesquely located  on  the  top  of  a  high  plateau  com- 
manding a  superb  view  of  the  country  for  miles 
around,  bears  comparatively  few  scars  of  war,  and  the 
most  serious  injury  to  the  great  cathedral  was  a  large 
hole  in  the  roof.  At  Lille,  destruction  was  mainly 
confined  to  a  comparatively  small  area  in  the  heart  of 
the  city,  while  at  Valenciennes  it  centered  about  the 
railway  station.  The  injuries  to  Amiens  were  not 
considerable,  and  extensive  areas  of  Arras  remained 
essentially  intact  in  spite  of  the  almost  complete 
devastation  wrought  in  other  quarters.  At  Armen- 
tieres  neither  walls  nor  roofs  were  generally  destroyed, 
although  disfigurement  and  minor  injury  were  widely 
spread.     At  Lens,  on  the  other  hand,  fire  and  bom- 


26  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

bardment  made  a  clean  sweep;  no  city  in  the  devas- 
tated zone  is  so  fitly  to  be  characterized  as  the  abomi- 
nation of  desolation.  Of  the  center  of  Bethune  there 
survives  little  more  than  a  ruined  tower,  while  at 
Albert  scarcely  a  building  of  any  kind  was  left  in  a 
condition  to  afford  shelter  to  animal  or  man. 

With  the  destruction  of  dwellings  and  public  build- 
ings went  also,  as  a  rule,  the  destruction  of  shops, 
mills,  factories,  mines,  and  industrial  establishments 
of  all  kinds.    The  number  of  industrial  establishments 
partially  or  totally  destroyed  was  about  twenty  thou- 
sand.   Many  small  industries  which  for  statistical  pur- 
poses must  be  classified  as  industrial  establishments 
were  carried  on  in  buildings  which  also  served  in  part 
as  dwellings,  but  the  8,792  industries  which  in  1914 
employed  more  than  ten  workmen  each,  and  especially 
the  5,297  establishments  with  more  than  twenty  work- 
ers each,  probably  represent  in  most  cases  separate 
buildings  or  groups  of  buildings  and  include  many 
large  and  expensive  plants.    The  destruction  of  build- 
ings was  only  a  part,  and  often  only  the  smaller  part, 
of  the  industrial  loss,  the  remainder  including  ma- 
chinery, tools,   equipment,   and  appliances  of  every 
kind,  most  of  which  were  either  entirely  destroyed  or 
else  rendered  useless  by  the  destruction  of  essential 
parts.    With  the  loss  of  buildings  and  machinery  went 
also,  in  most  cases,  heavy  losses  of  raw  materials, 
stocks,  and  finished  products.    In  the  case  of  the  mines 
not  only  were  all  the  machinery  and  buildings  above 
ground,  including  hoists,  ventilating  systems,  and  rail- 
ways, generally  crippled  or  destroyed,  but  the  stop- 
ping or  destruction  of  the  pumps  allowed  the  mines  to 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  27 

fill  with  water,  thereby  weakening  or  destroying  the 
interior  fittings  of  pits  and  passages.  The  same  sweep 
of  destruction  stopped  the  supply  of  electric  light  and 
power  and  put  an  end  to  the  use  of  gas.  Many  of  the 
larger  industrial  establishments  were  fortunately  able 
to  save  their  records,  but  in  some  the  records  were 
destroyed  along  with  the  buildings. 

The  supreme  importance  of  transportation  for  mili- 
tary purposes  saved  the  railways  of  the  invaded  area 
from  the  complete  destruction  which  was  visited  upon 
towns,  factories,  and  mines,  and  even  led  to  the  con- 
struction of  many  miles  of  new  railway  for  military 
use.    Every  kilometre  of  railway  in  the  war  zone,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  worn  almost  to  the  point  of  use- 
lessness  as  the  result  of  extraordinary  traffic  and  the 
inability  to  make  ordinary  repairs,  and  lines  were  re- 
peatedly cut  and  stations,  terminals,  bridges,  and  tun- 
nels destroyed  or  seriously  injured  as  the  fortunes  of 
war  exposed  them  to  attack.    The  withdrawal  of  the 
enemy  as  an  advance  was  checked  and  lines  pushed 
back  was  often  accompanied  by  a  systematic  wrecking 
of  the  railways.    Local  lines  as  a  rule  ceased  to  operate, 
or  were  operated  only  for  military  purposes.     At  the 
date  of  the  armistice  2,404  kilometres  of  railway  be- 
longing to  the  Nord  and  Est  systems  were  in  need  of 
more  or  less  complete  restoration,  and  1,503  stations, 
bridges,  tunnels,  and  structures  of  various  kinds  were 
in  ruins.    Of  the  local  lines,  2,385  kilometres  of  track 
were  unfit  for  use  and  906  buildings,  bridges,  etc.,  had 
been  destroyed  or  seriously  injured.    The  loss  of  rolling 
stock  on  all  lines  was  very  great,  and  much  of  the 
equipment  that  remained  at  the  end  of  the  war  was 


28  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

worn  beyond  the  point  of  safety.  For  most  practical 
purposes  the  entire  railway  mileage  of  the  devastated 
zone,  when  not  actually  destroyed,  required  to  be  re- 
built from  the  foundation. 

Highways,  canals,  and  navigable  rivers  also  suffered. 
In  addition  to  the  blowing  up  of  bridges,  which  as  a 
rule  put  a  stop  to  transport  by  water  at  the  same  time 
that  it  interrupted  transport  by  road,  the  highways 
were  torn  to  pieces  by  shell  fire  and  mines  and  worn 
deep  with  holes  and  ruts  by  heavy  automobiles,  guns, 
and  tanks.  The  highways  which  required  to  be  re- 
paired or  rebuilt  aggregated  at  the  date  of  the  armi- 
stice 52,734  kilometres.  To  this  is  to  be  added  the 
restoration  of  3,220  bridges,  culverts,  or  other  struc- 
tures.1 Of  the  canals  and  navigable  streams,  1,036 
kilometres  required  to  be  dredged,  or  cleared  of  ob- 
structions such  as  guns,  wagons,  fallen  bridges,  or 
sunken  boats,  and  1,120  locks,  landing  places,  or  other 
structures  had  to  be  restored. 

To  this  destruction  or  serious  impairment  of  houses, 
public  buildings,  factories,  mines,  and  transport  equip- 
ment is  to  be  added  unprecedented  injury  to  the  soil 
itself.  An  enormous  mass  of  defensive  works  and  mili- 
tary equipment  cumbered  the  surface  of  the  devastated 
zone  from  one  end  to  the  other  and  extended  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  actual  fighting.  Hills,  valleys, 
plains,  and  forests  were  crossed  with  long  lines  of 
trenches,  barbed  wire,  and  light  railways.  Hillsides, 
railway  embankments,  and  roadside  ditches  were 
dotted  with  caves  or  huts  or  gun  emplacements,  while 

*Such  structures  are  known  in  French  railway  nomenclature  as 
objets  d'art. 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  29 

hardly  a  hectare  of  land  could  be  found  that  was  not 
thickly  sprinkled  with  shell  holes.  Exploding  mines 
and  ammunition  dumps  tore  deep  rents  in  the  ground 
and  scattered  rock  and  subsoil  in  all  directions.  Every- 
where the  soil  was  shot  full  of  shells,  bombs,  and 
grenades,  some  still  protruding  through  the  surface, 
others  buried  in  the  ground  ready  to  explode  if  struck 
by  plow  or  spade.  Large  areas  were  to  be  seen,  for 
example,  about  Verdun  or  east  of  Reims  and  at  Vimy, 
in  which  the  whole  of  the  surface  soil  had  been  blown 
off  by  mines  and  gunfire  and  the  subsoil  and  under- 
lying rock  exposed.  Poisonous  gases  intended  to  kill 
men  also  killed  vegetation,  and  the  soil  was  impreg- 
nated with  chemicals  the  nature  or  duration  of  whose 
effects  upon  the  various  soil  products  was  unknown. 

Throughout  the  whole  area,  moreover,  were  scat- 
tered vast  military  camps  and  prodigious  aggregations 
of  war  material.  Houses  and  barraques  of  wood,  iron, 
stone,  brick  or  concrete,  huge  hangars  for  aeroplanes, 
stables  for  horses  and  mules,  repair  shops,  ammunition 
dumps,  and  temporary  hospitals  dotted  the  landscape 
from  the  Vosges  to  the  sea  and  from  the  Marne  to  the 
Belgian  frontier.  Hospital  trains,  fleets  of  canal  boats 
converted  into  hospitals  or  dressing  stations,  locomo- 
tives, freight  and  passenger  cars,  automobile  trucks, 
and  wagons  of  every  description  were  to  be  measured 
only  by  the  thousand  or  by  the  mile.  To  the  numerous 
ammunition  depots  were  to  be  added  great 'accumula- 
tions of  forage  and  food,  barbed  wire,  lumber  and  rods 
for  concrete  construction,  the  curved  and  corrugated 
sections  of  the  famous  Nissen  huts,  and  portable  sec- 
tions of  light  railway.     Everywhere,   too,   was   the 


30  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

wreckage  and  debris  of  war — abandoned  buildings, 
stranded  tanks  and  guns,  ruined  or  outworn  cars  and 
locomotives,  tangled  masses  of  barbed  wire  and  twisted 
metal,  and  the  desolate  graves  of  the  dead. 

The  trees  suffered  with  the  soil.  Some  state  forests 
had  been  cut  to  furnish  timber  and  fuel  for  the  French 
and  Allied  armies.  Naked  tree  trunks  bereft  of 
branches  testified  .to  the  ravages  of  artillery  fire,  and 
numberless  trunks  had  been  uprooted.  Great  num- 
bers of  trees  had  been  killed  by  gas  or  by  shell  shock, 
while  many  more  had  lost  all  value  as  lumber  by  rea- 
son of  shell  splinters  or  bullets  imbedded  in  their 
trunks.  The  Argonne  forest  and  the  broad  wooded 
areas  of  the  Armentieres  peninsula  still  look  as  if  some 
gigantic  harrow  had  swept  over  them,  tearing  branches 
from  the  trunks  and  roots  from  the  soil.  Peculiarly 
distressing  was  the  wanton  felling  of  orchards  in  cer- 
tain areas  of  German  occupation,  especially  in  the 
Somme  and  the  Aisne,  and  the  destruction  of  shade 
trees  which  lined  the  long,  straight  highways. 

Of  the  3,337,000  hectares  in  the  devastated  zone, 
2,164,727  hectares  were  under  cultivation  in  1914, 
406,330  hectares  were  in  pasturage,  and  577,973  hec- 
tares in  woodland  or  forest.  Practically  every  hectare 
had  to  be  carefully  gone  over,  surface  incumbrances 
removed,  and  unexploded  metal  extracted.  There  were 
333,000,000  cubic  metres  of  trenches  and  holes  to  be 
filled,  and  373,000,000  square  metres  of  barbed  wire  to 
lift  and  remove.  The  mass  of  munitions  of  all  kinds  to 
be  destroyed  reached  the  enormous  aggregate  of  more 
than  21,000,000  tons.  The  war  had  completely  de- 
stroyed 29,851  wells,  and  91,257  other  wells  were  in 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  31 

need  of  repair.  Nowhere  in  the  region  could  water 
safely  be  used  for  drinking  or  culinary  purposes  until 
wells  had  been  disinfected  and  the  water  analyzed. 

The  destruction  of  houses  usually  involved  the  loss 
of  the_whole  or  of  large  parts  of  the  furnishings  and 
other  contents.  Farmers  as  a  rule  lost  their  imple- 
ments and  crops,  and  shopkeepers  their  stocks.  523,- 
000  oxen  and  cows,  469,000  sheep  and  goats,  and  367,- 
000  horses,  asses,  and  mules  are  estimated  to  have 
been  carried  away  by  the  Germans  down  to  November 
11, 1918. 

Account  must  also  be  taken,  in  estimating  the  total 
of  material  injury  caused  by  the  war,  of  the  injury  and 
deterioration  which  were  suffered  by  private  and  pub- 
lic buildings  used  by  the  French  or  the  Allies  for  mili- 
tary purposes.  Large  numbers  of  hotels,  private 
houses,  country  chateaux  and  other  properties  were 
commandeered  by  the  army  and  turned  into  offices, 
clubs,  living  quarters,  guest  houses  for  visitors,  jour- 
nalists, or  government  officials,  canteens,  hospitals,  and 
the  like.  In  most  cases  the  personal  property  of  the 
owners  appears  to  have  been  removed  before  military 
occupancy  began,  but  necessary  alterations,  extraor- 
dinary wear  and  tear,  and  carelessness  left  most  of  the 
buildings  in  need  of  extensive  repairs.  The  govern- 
ment properly  classes  all  such  damages  as  war  dam- 
ages, the  same  as  if  they  had  been  caused  by  the 
enemy.  Buildings  occupied  by  the  Germans  for  simi- 
lar purposes  sometimes  received  a  measure  of  consid- 
eration when  towns  were  destroyed,  but  as  a  rule  no 
distinction  appears  to  have  been  made. 

So  much  for  the  material  losses  of  the  war.    How 


32  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

fared  it  with  the  people  and  with  the  structure  of 
government  and  administration? 

In  the  more  than  3,500  communes  which  were  occu- 
pied by  the  Germans  practically  all  forms  of  civil  ad- 
ministration were  suspended  or  abolished  and  military 
rule  was  substituted.  No  elections  were  held,  no  taxes 
were  levied  or  collected,  and  military  police  replaced 
the  municipal  agents  and  the  gendarmerie.  Civil  offi- 
cials continued  to  hold  a  naked  legal  title  in  their 
offices,  so  far  as  French  law  and  the  French  govern- 
ment were  concerned,  even  when  they  were  removed 
from  office  by  the  Germans,  but  civil  government  as  a 
whole  ceased  to  function  save  as  the  military  authority 
from  time  to  time  saw  fit  to  use  it  for  administrative 
purposes.  Where  a  commune  was  destroyed  or  ren- 
dered uninhabitable  even  this  vestige  of  civil  organiza- 
tion, of  course,  disappeared. 

A  similar  condition,  so  far  as  the  supremacy  of 
military  control  was  concerned,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
communes  which  were  occupied  by  the  French  or  the 
Allies,  but  with  the  important  difference  that  there  the 
civil  government  was  everywhere  respected,  and  its 
operations  were  allowed  to  continue  so  far  as  was  com- 
patible with  the  necessities  of  war.  Even  where  a 
commune  was  destroyed,  the  mayor  or  some  other 
official  often  remained  at  his  post,  representing  in  his 
own  person  the  civil  authority  of  France.  The  mayor 
was  the  only  civil  functionary,  and  almost  the  only 
civilian  inhabitant,  to  be  found  in  the  ruined  commune 
of  Clermont-en-Argonne  when  I  visited  it  in  March, 
1917.  Throughout  the  military  zone,  however,  com- 
munication by  telegraph,  telephone,  or  post  was  al- 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  33 

lowed  only  under  military  censorship,  travel  from  town 
to  town  was  either  prohibited  altogether  or  subjected 
to  serious  restrictions,  and  no  civilian  could  enter  or 
leave  the  zone  without  special  permission. 

The  first  advance  of  the  Germans,  in  1914,  was  the 
signal  for  a  wild  and  disorderly  rush  of  the  civil  popu- 
lation for  safety.  Tens  of  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  many  of  them  with  only  such  personal 
belongings  as  could  be  carried  in  their  hands  or  on 
their  backs,  poured  along  the  roads  that  led  toward 
Paris  or  crowded  the  railway  trains  that  would  take 
them  anywhere.  Hastily  organized  relief  societies  in 
Paris  and  elsewhere,  aided  by  the  government,  worked 
heroically  to  supply  food,  shelter,  clothing,  and  medical 
attendance  to  the  confused  and  helpless  refugees. 
When,  after  the  first  months  of  war,  the  German  line 
was  pushed  back,  many  of  the  people  returned  and 
attempted  to  reestablish  their  homes  and  resume  their 
wonted  occupations,  only  to  be  driven  out  again  when 
the  German  front  once  more  advanced.  Later,  thanks 
to  the  army  and  the  railways,  the  evacuation  of  civil- 
ians took  on  a  more  orderly  character.  The  larger 
number  of  the  refugees  were  eventually  transported  to 
Brittany,  Normandy,  or  central  and  southern  France, 
where  they  were  distributed  in  quotas  roughly  propor- 
tioned to  the  population  of  the  departments  and  com- 
munes which  received  them,  and  where  government 
allowances  and  private  charity  contributed  somewhat 
to  their  support.  A  central  employment  office  for  the 
placing  of  unemployed  and  refugees  was  opened  at 
Paris  in  November,  1914.  Some  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  civilians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  unable  to 


34  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

leave  the  war  zone,  and  remained  virtually  prisoners 
within  the  German  lines  throughout  the  war. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  fact  that 
the  so-called  "liberated  regions,"  as  officially  defined, 
include  considerable  areas  to  which  the  German  inva- 
sion did  not  actually  extend  but  which  were  neverthe- 
less subjected  to  disorganization  and  loss.  A  compari- 
son of  the  different  departments  shows  interesting  and 
important  variations  in  the  burden  of  injury  and  dev- 
astation which  the  war  imposed.1 

The  department  of  the  Nord,  one  of  the  smallest  of 
the  invaded  departments  in  area  but  the  leading 
department  in  population  and  in  the  value  of  its 
industrial  and  agricultural  production,  had  in  1911  a 
population  of  1,961,780.  Of  this  number  758,000  were 
driven  out.  501  communes  were  devastated,  1,555 
schools  destroyed,  50,010  houses  completely  destroyed, 
and  101,292  houses  destroyed  in  part.  The  total  area 
devastated  was  500,000  hectares,  or  about  four-fifths 
of  the  area  of  the  department,  268,808  hectares  of  this 
amount  being  arable  land.  244,000  head  of  livestock 
were  carried  off,  11,814  industrial  establishments  were 
wholly  or  partially  destroyed,  and  7,578  kilometres  of 
road  torn  up. 

The  adjacent  department  of  the  Pas-de-Calais  is 
larger  by  about  one  thousand  square  kilometres  than 
the  Nord,  but  had  in  1911  less  than  two-thirds  of  the 

xThe  figures  which  follow,  except  those  of  population  for  1911,  are 
taken  from  A.  Tardieu,  The  Truth  about  the  Treaty,  378-381.  M. 
Tardieu  was  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  from  November,  1919, 
to  January,  1920.  Some  of  the  figures  appear  to  be  approximate 
round  numbers,  and  the  statistics  as  a  whole  differ  in  detail  from 
those  compiled  or  revised  later  by  the  same  ministry,  but  they  are 
nevertheless  sufficiently  accurate  for  purposes  of  comparison. 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  35 

population.  A  little  more  than  one-half  of  the  popula- 
tion, or  581,000,  was  to  be  found  in  the  war  zone  in 
1914,  and  of  this  number  460,000  were  driven  out  and 
367  communes  were  destroyed.  The  houses  completely 
destroyed  numbered  70,634,  those  partially  destroyed 
36,480,  and  schools  554.  Other  losses  included  1,560 
industrial  establishments  wholly  or  partially  destroyed, 
7,840  kilometres  of  road  in  need  of  rebuilding,  and 
124,000  head  of  livestock  carried  off.  On  the  other 
hand  the  devastated  area  of  267,000  hectares,  138,082 
hectares  of  which  was  arable  land,  comprised  less  than 
two-fifths  of  the  total  area  of  the  department. 

The  department  of  the  Somme,  which  saw  much  of 
the  hardest  fighting  of  the  war,  shows  striking  irregu- 
larities in  the  character  and  extent  of  its  losses.  Of  its 
population  of  520,161  in  1911,  281,000  were  found  in 
the  war  zone  in  1914,  and  of  that  number  all  save  a 
thousand  were  driven  out.  448  communes  and  596 
schools  were  destroyed,  40,335  houses  were  completely 
destroyed  and  18,766  destroyed  in  part,  and  1,099  in- 
dustrial establishments  suffered  in  whole  or  in  part. 
The  livestock  carried  off  numbered  140,000  head,  and 
7,144  kilometres  of  road  required  to  be  rebuilt.  The 
land  area  of  400,000  hectares  requiring  restoration,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  only  about  three-fifths  of  the 
total  area  of  the  department,  while  of  the  total  devas- 
tated surface  only  190,700  hectares  was  arable  land. 

Only  about  two-sevenths  of  the  total  area  of  the 
Oise,  or  170,000  hectares,  was  devastated;  of  this  107,- 
332  hectares  was  arable  land.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
less  than  two-sevenths  of  the  population  of  1911,  or 
112,398,  were  to  be  found  in  the  invaded  area  in  1914, 


36  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

96,000  of  that  number  were  forced  to  withdraw.  The 
record  of  destruction,  complete  or  partial,  included  263 
communes,  260  schools,  24,395  houses,  of  which  8,745 
were  entirely  destroyed,  283  industrial  establishments, 
and  2,688  kilometres  of  highway.  The  loss  in  cattle 
carried  off  was  78,000  head. 

So  far  as  the  area  of  devastation  is  concerned,  the 
Aisne  came  the  nearest  to  complete  obliteration.  Of 
its  2,868  square  miles  of  area,  approximately  2,660 
square  miles  were  devastated,  only  the  extreme  south- 
ern edge  of  the  department  being  spared.  The  wave 
of  war  destroyed  814  communes,  1,224  schools,  55,268 
houses  completely  and  50,018  in  part,  1,966  industrial 
establishments,  and  6,391  kilometres  of  road.  The  loss 
in  cattle  was  251,000  head.  More  than  four-sevenths 
of  the  devastated  land  was  arable.  Of  the  population 
of  approximately  530,000,  all  in  the  war  zone,  290,000 
were  driven  out. 

The  Marne  also  lost  heavily  in  population,  223,000 
of  the  300,000  inhabitants  of  the  war  zone  being  com- 
pelled to  flee.  The  total  population  of  the  department 
in  1911  was  436,310.  The  toll  of  losses  counted  320 
communes,  432  schools,  49,897  houses,  30,612  of  which 
were  completely  destroyed,  913  industrial  establish- 
ments, and  6,184  kilometres  of  road,  besides  116,000 
head  of  livestock  carried  away.  The  total  devastated 
area,  on  the  other  hand,  of  293,000  hectares  was  only 
a  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  total  area  of  the 
department,  while  of  the  293,000  hectares  only  136,639 
hectares  were  arable. 

Similar  variations  were  to  be  found  in  the  eastern 
departments.    The  population  of  the  war  zone  of  the 


WHAT  THE  WAR  DID  37 

Ardennes  in  1914  was  324,000,  a  figure  slightly  in 
excess  of  the  total  population  of  the  department  in 
1911.  Of  this  number  180,000  were  driven  out.  443 
communes  and  789  schools  were  destroyed,  10,440 
houses  were  completely  destroyed  and  14,205  destroyed 
in  part,  1,528  industrial  establishments  were  destroyed 
or  injured,  and  3,621  kilometres  of  road  required  to  be 
rebuilt.  The  invaded  area,  525,000  hectares,  was  al- 
most identical  with  the  area  of  the  department,  but 
only  125,000  hectares  were  arable.  Cattle  to  the  num- 
ber of  185,000  head  were  carried  off. 

About  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  Meuse  in 
1911,  or  180,000,  were  in  the  war  zone  in  1914,  and  of 
that  number  135,000  had  to  leave.  The  property 
losses  included  398  communes  and  520  schools,  24,229 
houses  completely  destroyed  and  12,457  destroyed  in 
part,  93,000  head  of  livestock  carried  away,  and  4,878 
kilometres  of  road  to  be  rebuilt.  The  devastated  area, 
320,000  hectares,  was  almost  exactly  one-half  the  area 
of  the  department,  168,816  hectares  being  arable. 
Separate  figures  for  industrial  establishments  are  lack- 
ing, but  the  total  for  the  three  departments  of  the 
Meuse,  the  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  and  the  Vosges  is 
1,376  establishments  partially  or  wholly  destroyed. 

Somewhat  less  than  six-sevenths  of  the  population 
of  the  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  or  424,000,  were  in  the  war 
zone,  and  of  that  number  292,000  were  driven  out. 
Destroyed  communes  and  schools  numbered  363  and 
395  respectively,  and  to  these  were  to  be  added  11,796 
houses  entirely  destroyed,  16,609  houses  destroyed  in 
part,  4,630  miles  of  highway  requiring  reconstruction, 
and  90,000  head  of  livestock  carried  off.    The  depart- 


38  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

ment  of  the  Vosges  escaped  with  the  least  injury.  Out 
of  a  population  of  433,914  in  1911,  of  which  82,000 
were  in  the  war  zone  in  1914,  only  18,000  were  obliged 
to  leave.  The  120,000  hectares  of  devastated  area, 
only  4,500  hectares  of  it  arable,  represented  about  one- 
fifth  of  the  total  area  of  the  department.  The  dev- 
astated communes  numbered  105,  schools  129,  houses 
completely  destroyed  2,122,  houses  partially  destroyed 
5,663.  39,000  head  of  livestock  had  been  carried  off, 
and  2,445  kilometres  of  road  required  to  be  rebuilt. 

It  is  difficult  even  with  these  figures  before  us  to 
realize  how  appalling  was  the  destruction  or  how 
serious  was  the  problem  of  restoration.  The  material 
civilization  which  generations  had  built  up  had  been, 
in  a  little  more  than  four  years,  all  but  completely 
thrown  down.  To  whom  belonged  the  task  of  recon- 
struction, and  when,  where,  and  how  should  the  work 
begin?  It  was  these  questions  that  the  government  of 
France,  while  the  war  was  still  only  in  its  beginnings, 
set  itself  to  answer. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

What  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapter  will 
serve  to  indicate  in  a  general  way  the  more  obvious 
material  aspects  of  the  problem  with  which  France  has 
had  to  deal.  If  the  invaded  departments  were  to  be- 
come once  more  habitable  and  productive,  what  had 
been  demolished  must  be  rebuilt,  agricultural,  indus- 
trial, and  commercial  life  must  be  reestablished,  the 
refugee  population  must  be  brought  back,  and  civil 
government  and  administration  must  be  resumed.  To 
casual  observers  the  problem  has  often  seemed  chiefly 
one  of  quantity :  so  many  hectares  of  land  to  be  cleared, 
so  many  kilometres  of  trenches  to  be  filled,  so  many 
tons  of  wire  and  other  debris  to  be  collected  and  dis- 
posed of,  so  many  houses  and  factories  to  be  rebuilt. 
It  would  indeed  have  been  fortunate  for  France  had 
the  task  been  so  simple.  Once  the  undertaking  was 
fairly  begun,^  however,  its  difficulties  and  complexities 
began  to  appear.  Even  the  simplest  and  most  obvious 
material  processes  of  the  first  few  months  could  not  be 
carried  far  without  involving  financial,  administrative, 
and  legal  questions  of  a  serious  and  novel  character, 
and  the  questions  multiplied  as  the  area  of  devastation 
spread  and  destruction  became  more  systematic  and 
thorough. 


40  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  beginning  of  reconstruction  is  almost  identical 
with  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  formal  declara- 
tion of  war  by  Germany  was  made  on  August  3,  1914. 
On  September  2,  following  the  advice  of  the  military 
authorities,  the  seat  of  government  was  transferred 
from  Paris  to  Bordeaux.  Two  weeks  later  the  battle 
of  the  Marne  checked  the  German  advance  toward 
Paris  and  gave  France  a  momentary  breathing  space 
for  the  long  struggle  which  lay  before  it.  Every  other 
consideration  was  subordinated  for  the  time  being  to 
the  organization  of  national  defense,  yet  within  a  few 
weeks  the  first  steps  had  been  taken  looking  to  the 
relief  of  the  departments  which  had  been  invaded,  and 
consideration  of  the  policy  under  which  reconstruction 
should  ultimately  proceed  was  actively  begun.  There 
is  no  "period  of  reconstruction"  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  period  of  the  war,  but  war  and  reconstruction 
went  on  together  so  long  as  the  war  continued.  It  is 
the  development  of  the  reconstruction  policy  under 
the  stress  of  war  conditions  that  has  now  to  be  traced.1 

On  October  27,  1914,  a  circular  to  the  prefects 2  of 
the  invaded  departments  announced  that  the  govern- 

*A  striking  contrast  to  the  situation  in  France  is  afforded  by  the 
experience  of  the  Confederate  States  during  and  after  the  American 
Civil  War  (1861-65).  In  spite  of  the  heavy  losses  which  the  Civil 
War  entailed  and  the  occupation  of  important  sections  of  the  Con- 
federacy by  Federal  troops  within  two  years  after  hostilities  began, 
no  important  efforts  were  made  by  any  of  the  States  in  the  direction 
of  restoration,  and  no  aid  was  even  extended  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment even  after  all  the  persons  who  had  joined  in  rebellion  against 
the  Federal  authority  had  been  amnestied  and  the  seceding  States 
had  again  been  accorded  political  rights.  The  so-called  "period  of 
reconstruction"  after  the  war  was  wholly  political. 

aThe  laws,  decrees,  and  official  circulars  relating  to  reconstruction 
are  usually  to  be  found  in  chronological  order  in  the  Bulletin  des 
Lois  and  the  Journal  Ojficiel.  Beginning  with  July  21,  1919,  they  are 
also  to  be  found  in  the  weekly  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberies,  which 
also  reprints  many  of  the  earlier  documents.  For  1914-1917  they  are 
available  in  a  useful  compilation  entitled  La  Legislation  de  la  Guerre. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     41 

ment  proposed  to  aid,  by  all  the  means  at  its  disposal, 
the  population  which  was  suffering  from  the  war,  and 
that  the  regions  not  invaded  would  be  called  upon  for 
help.  The  Parliament  was  also  to  be  asked  to  vote 
credits.  In  order  that  the  amounts  which  it  would  be 
necessary  to  dispense  might  be  known,  the  communal 
authorities  were  requested  to  send  to  the  prefects  as 
detailed  reports  as  possible  of  the  losses  sustained, 
these  reports  to  be  forwarded  by  the  prefects  to  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior.  The  agents  of  the  various 
ministries  concerned,  especially  engineers  of  bridges 
and  roads,  departmental  inspectors,  and  professors  of 
agriculture,  were  directed  to  assist  the  prefects  in  the 
preparation  and  examination  of  the  reports.  A  circu- 
lar of  October  28,  addressed  by  the  Minister  of  Agri- 
culture to  the  prefects  and  supervisors  of  agricultural 
operations,  specified  in  detail  the  subjects  with  which 
the  reports  should  deal.  Account  was  to  be  taken  of 
injuries  sustained  by  the  soil  and  by  buildings  of  all 
kinds,  of  the  loss  of  crops,  forage,  and  grain,  including 
crops  not  harvested,  and  losses  of  personal  property. 
As  complete  and  accurate  an  evaluation  of  losses  as 
possible  was  to  be  made,  care  being  taken  to  guard 
against  exaggeration.  With  the  reports,  which  were  to 
be  prepared  separately  for  each  commune,  were  also  to 
be  transmitted  suggestions  of  measures  necessary  for 
the  restoration  of  agriculture.  Weekly  reports  of  prog- 
ress were  requested. 

These  two  circulars  were  followed  on  December  26 
by  a  law  announcing  that  the  conditions  under  which 
the  right  to  war  damages *  might  be  exercised  would 

1In  strict  legal  usage,  damages  are  what  is  paid  in  indemnity  or 
reparation  for  losses  sustained.  The  French  documents  usually  em- 
ploy the  term  in  this  sense,  but  occasionally  also,  as  in  English  and 


42  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

be  made  the  subject  of  special  legal  regulation,  and  in 
the  meantime  establishing  with  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior  a  preliminary  credit  of  300,000,000  francs  for 
the  most  urgent  needs.  On  February  4,  1915,  commis- 
sions of  evaluation  were  created  for  departments  and 
cantons.  The  commissions  were  empowered  to  open 
inquiries  either  in  the  commune  which  had  suffered 
losses  or  in  any  other  commune  in  the  canton,  and  to 
determine  questions  of  urgency.  The  provisions  of  the 
decree  of  February  4,  with  subsequent  modifications, 
were  later  embodied  in  a  law  of  April  6.  A  subsequent 
decree  of  February  24  provided  for  a  commission  to 
allot  the  funds  which  had  been  placed  to  the  credit  of 
the  Ministry  of  the  Interior. 

The  determination  of  the  conditions  under  which 
war  damages  should  be  awarded  was  referred  to  a 
special  commission,  the  composition  of  which  was  fixed 
by  a  decree  of  March  24.  The  membership  was  large, 
comprising  two  senators  and  three  deputies  (increased 
in  April  to  five  senators  and  seven  deputies),  two 
members  of  the  Council  of  State,  two  members  of  the 
Cour  des  Comptes,  two  representatives  each  of  the 
ministries  of  the  Interior,  Finance,  War,  Public  Works, 
Commerce  and  Industry,  and  Agriculture,  one  repre- 
sentative each  of  the  ministries  of  Justice,  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  Labor,  two  architects,  two  representatives 
of  chambers  of  commerce,  two  representatives  of  agri- 
cultural societies,  and  four  other  members.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  commission  were  named  by  the  Minister  of 

American  popular  usage,  in  the  sense  of  the  losses  themselves  as 
distinct  from  reparation  or  indemnity.  I  have  followed  the  legal 
practice  wherever  the  popular  usage  would  lead  to  confusion. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     43 

the  Interior,  who  also  presided  at  sessions  at  which  he 
was  present. 

On  May  27  the  commission  made  its  report.1  The 
report  pointed  out  that  the  only  question  with  which 
the  commission  could  properly  concern  itself  was  that 
of  the  evaluation  of  damages,  the  question  of  the  in- 
demnities which  should  be  paid  for  losses  sustained 
being  wholly  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Parliament.  In 
the  existing  state  of  the  law  the  only  damages  which 
the  commission  could  consider  were  such  as  were  (1) 
material  or  direct,  excluding  those  that  were  indirect, 
(2)  real  and  actual,  excluding  those  that  were  conse- 
quential or  eventual,  or  (3)  the  results  of  acts  of  war, 
for  example,  requisitions.  There  were  two  possible 
theories  of  evaluation :  one  which  took  as  the  basis  the 
cost  of  replacing  the  property,  less  an  allowance  for 
depreciation  through  age,  the  other  that  which  took  as 
a  basis  the  value  of  the  property  at  the  time  of  its 
destruction.  The  commission  by  a  majority  vote  had 
approved  the  latter  theory  as  the  one  most  nearly  in 
conformity  with  existing  law  and  the  decree  of  Feb- 
ruary 4.  If  the  amount  allowed  in  damages  under  this 
rule  proved  to  be  less  than  the  actual  cost  of  restora- 
tion, relief  must  be  sought  in  indemnities  which  it 
would  be  the  function  of  legislation  to  provide. 

The  period  of  time  to  be  taken  for  determining  valu- 
ation, the  report  went  on  to  recommend,  should  be  that 
immediately  preceding  the  war,  not  the  precise  date  of 
the  destruction  or  injury.  The  financial  authorities  of 
the  government  should  determine  as  nearly  as  possible 

*The  report  is  in  the  Journal  Officiel  for  June  21,  Supplement, 


44  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  value  of  the  property  at  a  date  as  close  as  possible 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  using  for  this  purpose  any 
relevant  data  from  census  returns,  public  records,  the 
records  of  mortgage  or  insurance  companies,  etc.  Ac- 
count should  also  be  taken  of  losses  in  tools  and  agri- 
cultural machinery,  farm  animals,  food  and  forage, 
crops  in  the  ground,  vineyards  (including  the  cost  of 
replanting  and  the  loss  of  yield  in  the  meantime), 
trees,  gardens,  injuries  to  fields  by  military  operations, 
trenches,  and  the  like,  and  injuries  to  private  roads. 
Forest  damages,  also  to  be  included,  were  in  a  special 
class,  involving  as  they  did  questions  of  the  loss  of 
trees,  injuries,  age,  market  value,  cost  of  restoration, 
buildings  of  forest  occupants,  road,  etc.  Injuries  to 
cemeteries  were  also  to  be  estimated,  and  enemy  requi- 
sitions were  to  be  reckoned  as  war  losses. 

In  industry  and  commerce  as  well  as  in  agriculture 
account  should  be  taken  of  the  actual  value  in  use  of 
the  property  at  the  time  of  injury  or  destruction,  and 
of  the  value  of  building  in  comparison  with  the  value 
of  the  real  property  as  a  whole.  In  the  case  of  per- 
sonal property  the  cantonal  commissions  should  re- 
quire the  production  of  detailed  lists,  supported  by 
documentary  proof  (for  example,  insurance  policies) 
wherever  possible,  documentary  proof  being  especially 
necessary  where  the  property  was  of  exceptional  value 
or  where  claims  for  lost  money  were  made. 

The  commission  further  recommended  that  expert 
valuation  be  dispensed  with,  and  that  lists  of  persons 
to  whom  the  cantonal  commissions  might  appeal,  the 
persons  so  chosen  to  serve  without  pay,  be  drawn  up 
for  each  department.    In  the  case  of  commercial  or 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     45 

industrial  losses  the  local  chambers  of  commerce 
should  be  consulted.  Detailed  recommendations  were 
also  made  regarding  the  method  of  evaluating  bonds, 
mortgages,  and  similar  securities  or  evidences  of  debt. 
Finally,  it  was  urged  that  the  work  of  the  commissions 
be  begun  at  once  in  places  from  which  the  enemy  had 
withdrawn. 

Two  weeks  before  the  submission  of  this  report,  on 
May  11,  the  government  had  laid  before  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  a  proposed  law  under  which  the  state 
should  assume  responsibility  for  the  indemnification  of 
such  war  losses  as  were  "material,  certain,  and  direct." 
The  place  of  this  proposal  in  the  evolution  of  the  law 
of  war  damages  will  be  considered  later.  The  report  of 
the  commission,  on  the  other  hand,  while  in  accord 
with  the  government  proposal  on  the  question  of  re- 
imbursing only  direct  and  material  losses,  was  mainly 
concerned  with  the  question  of  evaluation,  and  its 
recommendations  constitute  the  first  attempt  to  deal 
with  that  subject  systematically  and  as  a  whole.  The 
report  is  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  reconstruction, 
and  the  procedure  which  it  outlined  formed  the  basis, 
in  the  main,  of  government  action  until  the  adoption 
of  the  great  law  of  April  17,  1919.  The  decree  of 
February  4  was  reissued  in  July  in  a  revised  and 
amended  form,  and  was  further  amplified  in  August. 

A  long  period  of  experiment  and  divided  effort,  how- 
ever, was  still  to  elapse.  A  radical  difference  of  opin- 
ion early  developed  between  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
and  the  Senate  over  the  question  of  war  damages,  and 
the  prolonged  debate  in  the  chambers,  in  the  press, 
and  in  the  country  naturally  affected  the  attitude  of 


46  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  government.  The  work  of  aiding  and  restoring 
the  invaded  departments  was  shared  by  several  min- 
istries, each  of  which  pursued  more  or  less  its  own 
course.  The  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  cooperating 
with  the  military  authorities,  busied  itself  with  return- 
ing refugees  to  their  homes,  erecting  temporary  houses 
or  making  habitable  those  least  injured,  and  caring  for 
refugees  in  other  parts  of  France.  The  Ministry  of 
Agriculture  helped  the  people  who  had  returned  to 
obtain  seed,  grain,  farm  animals,  and  implements. 
The  Ministry  of  Commerce  and  Industry  also  exerted 
itself  to  provide  tools  for  farmers  and  mechanics,  while 
the  Ministry  of  Labor  extended  to  the  invaded  com- 
munities the  benefit  of  various  social  laws  and  regula- 
tions. Visible  progress,  however,  was  small.  The  re- 
turn of  a  part  of  the  civil  population  at  this  early  date 
was  as  a  whole  ill-advised,  the  conditions  of  existence 
were  hard  and  often  wretched,  and  military  events 
undid  much  of  what  was  actually  accomplished. 

The  immediate  need  was  for  cooperation,  and  some 
efforts  were  made  to  supply  it.  On  April  13,  1916,  a 
decree  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior1  provided  for 
the  creation  within  the  ministry  of  a  special  service 
charged  with  the  duty  of  preparing  measures  looking 
to  the  construction  of  temporary  houses  in  the  devas- 
tated regions  and  to  the  more  speedy  reconstruction  of 
towns,  villages,  and  buildings  that  had  been  destroyed, 
and  of  other  plans  intended  to  insure  the  necessary  co- 
operation in  these  matters  between  the  departments 
concerned.  This  action  was  followed  on  May  18  by  a 
government    decree    establishing   an    interministerial 

1  Journal  Offlciel,  May  6. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     47 

commission  to  aid  in  the  restoration  of  the  invaded 
regions.  In  an  official  statement  which  accompanied 
the  decree  two  obstacles  to  rapid  reconstruction  were 
specially  emphasized.  One  was  the  fact  that  the  law 
of  December  26,  1914,  while  promising  indemnity  for 
material  or  direct  losses,  failed  to  meet  the  immediate 
and  pressing  needs  of  sinistres *  who  had  not  only  lost 
houses  or  other  property,  but  who  must  also  rebuild 
before  their  former  occupation  or  business  could  be 
resumed.  The  other  obstacle  was  the  lack  of  coordi- 
nated effort  by  the  several  ministries.  The  composi- 
tion of  the  new  committee,  however,  promised  little 
improvement  in  cooperation.  Its  membership  com- 
prised the  ministers  of  Justice,  Interior,  Finance,  War, 
Public  Works,  Commerce  and  Industry,  Posts  and  Tel- 
egraphs, Agriculture,  and  Labor,  a  Minister  of  State 
without  portfolio,  and  the  Under-Secretary  of  State  for 
Fine  Arts.  With  these  were  associated  the  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  in  questions  relating 
to  schools,  the  Minister  of  the  Colonies  in  questions 
involving  the  supply  of  labor  or  materials  by  the  col- 
onies, the  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  Artillery  and 
Munitions  in  questions  relating  to  tools  and  equip- 
ment, and  the  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  Marine 
in  questions  relating  to  the  merchant  marine.  Prac- 
tically, it  was  the  old  committee  of  March  24,  1916, 
shorn  of  senators,  deputies,  and  non-official  members. 
For  the  better  transaction  -of  business  this  inter- 
ministerial  committee  was  divided  into  six  sections, 

xThe  word  itself,  of  course,  is  not  a  war  product,  but  its  general 
use  as  a  special  designation  of  those  who  had  suffered  property  losses 
because  of  the  war  seems  to  have  dated  from  1914-1915.  In  the 
absence  of  a  satisfactory  English  equivalent  I  use  the  French  term. 


48  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

each  presided  over  by  a  minister  and  each  intrusted 
with  one  or  more  subjects — legal  questions,  transport, 
mines,  buildings,  civil  reorganization,  hygiene,  agricul- 
ture, industrial  reconstruction,  etc.  More  than  seven 
months  elapsed,  however,  without  any  essential  change 
in  policy  or  administrative  methods.  In  February, 
1917,  and  again  in  April,  the  committee  was  reorgan- 
ized and  its  duties  redistributed,  but  it  gradually  be- 
came apparent  that  the  committee,  having  no  agents 
of  its  own  as  distinct  from  the  agents  of  the  several 
ministries  in  the  departments  for  whose  benefit  it  had 
been  created,  could  deal  only  with  general  matters  and 
not  with  details. 

On  July  28,  accordingly,  the  ministerial  members  of 
the  committee  were  constituted  an  executive  commis- 
sion, charged  with  the  duty  of  securing  the  cooperation 
which  thus  far  had  not  been  realized.  The  immediate 
outcome  of  this  change  appears  to  have  been  the  crea- 
tion, by  a  decree  of  August  10,  of  an  office  of  industrial 
reconstruction  for  the  invaded  districts,1  destined  to 
play  before  long  the  leading  part  in  the  work  of  res- 
toration. The  interministerial  committee,  however, 
continued  to  exist.  In  August  it  created  within  itself  a 
superior  committee  for  the  coordination  of  public  and 
private  relief  in  the  war  area.  That  it  was  still  re- 
garded by  the  government,  and  also  regarded  itself,  as 
the  chief  agency  for  directing  the  work  of  reconstruc- 
tion may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  the  issuance,  on 
October  8,  of  a  decree  reducing  its  original  six  sections 
to  five  and  redistributing  their  powers,  one  of  the  new 

xFor  the  list  of  members  see  the  decree  of  August  21,  in  the 
Bulletin  des  Lois  of  that  date. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     49 

sections  having  to  do  with  industrial  reconstruction, 
and  by  the  issuance  on  November  12  of  a  circular 
signed  by  M.  Leon  Bourgeois,  president  of  the  commit- 
tee, calling  the  attention  of  the  prefects  of  the  Aisne, 
the  Marne,  the  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  the  Nord,  the* 
Oise,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  the  Somme,  and  the  Vosges 
to  certain  decrees  of  August  10  and  November  5 
and  advising  them  of  their  duties  in  the  matter  of 
enforcement. 

In  other  directions  more  than  formal  progress  had 
in  the  meantime  been  made.  On  May  15  a  prelim- 
inary competition,  open  to  all  French  architects,  had 
been  announced  for  the  choice  of.  such  as  later  would 
be  allowed  to  take  part  in  a  final  competition  for  the 
creation  of  types  of  peasant  houses.  The  impossibility 
of  securing,  until  some  time  after  the  liberation  of  the 
invaded  territories,  a  strict  adherence  to  the  terms  laid 
down  in  the  decree  of  July  20,  1915,  for  the  evaluation 
of  war  damages,  led  to  the  issuance  by  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  on  May  29,1  of  a  circular  authorizing 
sinistres  to  proceed  at  once  to  a  summary  ascertain- 
ment of  their  losses,  and  to  the  restoration  of  their 
property  with  the  aid  of  such  material  as  they  might 
have,  without  thereby  prejudicing  their  rights  before 
the  cantonal  commissions.  A  law  of  July  5  authorized 
the  prefects,  in  case  the  government  representatives 
had  failed  to  inspect  property  injured  or  destroyed,  to 
make  the  examinations  themselves  if  called  upon  or  to 
send  an  expert  for  the  purpose.  A  circular  of  July  16, 
issued  jointly  by  the  ministers  of  the  Interior,  Agricul- 
ture, and  Commerce  and  Industry,  further  empowered 

1  Journal  Officiel,  June  2. 


50  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  prefects  to  make  advances  to  sinistres,  before  the 
evaluation  of  damages  and  upon  a  preliminary  survey, 
in  order  to  enable  the  sinistres  to  maintain  themselves 
temporarily  and  to  use  the  tools,  seed,  and  other  sup- 
plies with  which  they  had  been  provided.  The  ad- 
vances, which  were  to  be  substantially  less  than  the 
probable  damages  and  in  general  not  more  than  3,000 
francs  to  any  one  person,  were  to  be  charged  against 
the  credit  of  300,000,000  francs  authorized  in  Decem- 
ber, 1914. 

With  a  view  to  hastening  the  reconstitution  of  the 
soil  a  special  service,  attached  to  the  Ministry  of  War, 
was  organized  under  a  decree  of  August  18  and 
charged  with  the  duty  of  removing  projectiles  and 
explosives  of  all  kinds,  leveling  the  battlefields,  and 
disposing  of  other  obstacles  to  cultivation.  The  per- 
sonnel of  the  service  was  to  be  recruited  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  retired  soldiers  and  civil  functionaries. 
When  work  of  a  military  nature  had  been  completed, 
the  service  was  to  be  transferred  to  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture;  on  October  9,  however,  before  anything 
of  importance  had  been  accomplished,  it  was  trans- 
ferred instead  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport.  In  September  the  supervision  of  matters 
relating  to  habitations  and  building  construction  was 
taken  from  the  overburdened  Ministry  of  the  Interior 
and  given  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport,  and  a  special  committee  was  created  within 
the  latter  ministry  to  study  the  whole  question  of  con- 
struction, arrange  for  labor  and  transport,  and  advise 
local  committees  which  were  to  be  formed  in  each 
department.    The  membership  of  the  special  commit- 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     51 

tee  comprised,  in  addition  to  functionaries,  two  archi- 
tects and  two  contractors.1 

The  volume  of  legislation  and  executive  orders  was 
obviously  growing  apace,  but  reconstruction  lagged. 
Back  of  the  lines  the  army,  aided  by  German  prisoners, 
had  performed  praiseworthy  service  in  clearing  the 
main  streets  of  reoccupied  towns  and  villages,  pulling 
down  or  protecting  dangerous  ruinSj  restoring  the  main 
highways  to  passable  condition,  erecting  temporary 
bridges,  extracting  unexploded  shells,  and  insuring  the 
purity  of  drinking  water.  Some  clearing  of  private 
property  had  been  begun;  gardens  had  been  planted 
and  some  small  crops  harvested.  Here  and  there 
schools  had  been  reestablished  in  barraques,  small 
shops  had  been  reopened,  and  food  and  lodging  of  a 
sort  could  be  had.  Complaints  were  loud  and  long, 
however,  that  notwithstanding  the  establishment  of 
commissions  in  many  cantons,  the  evaluation  of  dam- 
ages was  proceeding  with  distressing  slowness  or  not 
at  all,  that  money  was  not  forthcoming  or  that  gov- 
ernment advances  were  wholly  insufficient,  and  that 
the  sinistres  were  embarrassed  at  every  turn  by  divided 
authority  and  conflicting  responsibility  while  the  Par- 
liament at  Paris  debated. 

On  October  1,  accordingly,  a  new  commission  was 
created  to  study  the  question  of  credits.  The  report 
which  accompanied  the  proposed  decree  2  described  the 
situation  succinctly.  However  effective  the  measures 
thus  far  adopted  may  have  been,  "they  are  not  equal 
to  bringing  about  a  rebirth  of  economic  activity  in  the 

1  Decrees  of  September  17  and  25. 

2  Journal  Officiel,  October  4. 


52  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

devastated  regions.  They  extend  no  aid  whatever  to 
business  men  of  those  regions  whose  damages  are  not 
material  and  direct — the  only  damages  upon  which  a 
claim  to  indemnity  can  be  based.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  the  sinistres  themselves  the  indemnity  does  not 
furnish  all  the  means  of  action  necessary.  The  manu- 
facturer who  would  like  to  rebuild  a  better  arranged 
and  more  perfectly  equipped  factory  does  not  find,  in 
the  indemnity  to  which  he  has  a  claim,  the  full  meas- 
ure of  the  resources  which  he  needs.  In  the  same  way 
the  owner  will  find  it  impossible  to  erect  more  modern 
buildings  with  better  hygienic  conditions  if  means  of 
credit  are  not  placed  at  his  disposal.  .  .  .  The  prob- 
lem of  credit  presents  itself  in  pressing  terms  and 
under  the  most  diverse  forms:  credit  to  manufactur- 
ers, to  merchants,  to  urban  proprietors,  to  farmers,  to 
artisans." 

Four  senators  and  six  deputies,  in  addition  to  two 
senators  and  two  deputies  who  acted  as  vice-presi- 
dents, and  forty-four  representatives  of  business  and 
of  the  government  made  up  the  commission. 

A  further  step  was  taken  on  the  same  date  by  the 
creation  of  an  office  of  agricultural  reconstitution  for 
the  invaded  departments.  The  administrative  council 
of  the  new  office  comprised,  in  addition  to  government 
officials,  representatives  of  six  agricultural  organiza- 
tions. On  November  13  all  the  work  of  agricultural 
reconstruction  was  turned  over  to  this  office.  A  month 
later,1  however,  the  Ministry  of  Blockade  and  of  the 
Liberated  Regions  was  reorganized,  and  the  two  offices 
of  industrial  reconstruction  and  agricultural  recon- 

1  Decree  of  December  13. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     53 

struction  were  presently  attached  to  it.1  The  jurisdic- 
tion of  this  composite  ministry,  so  far  as  the  liberated 
regions  were  concerned,  embraced  the  various  services 
dealing  with  the  reorganization  of  local  life,  war  dam- 
ages and  accounting,  the  coordination  of  public  and 
private  relief,  and  the  technical  services  having  to  do 
with  the  temporary  provision  of  habitations,  the  re- 
construction of  buildings,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
soil.  Each  of  these  services  as  already  constituted 
remained  intact,  but  the  union  of  blockade  and  recon- 
struction in  the  same  administrative  department  did 
not  promise  hopefully  for  the  recovery  of  the  invaded 
departments  so  long  as  the  war  pressure  continued. 

Another  year  was  to  pass,  however,  and  hostilities 
were  to  terminate  before  reconstruction  and  blockade 
could  be  divorced.  On  February  16  the  office  of  indus- 
trial reconstitution  was  reorganized,  sixteen  members, 
eight  of  whom  were  representative  of  commerce  and 
industry  and  at  least  five  of  the  eight  being  chosen 
from  the  invaded  departments,  having  the  sole  right 
of  voting  on  questions  of  policy.  The  multiplication  of 
legal  and  other  questions  of  a  controversial  nature  led 
to  the  creation  within  the  Ministry  of  Blockade  and  of 
the  Liberated  Regions,  on  July  14,  of  a  consultative 
committee  whose  advice  could  be  required  by  the  min- 
ister. Of  the  twelve  members  one  was  a  member  of 
the  Cour  des  Comptes,  two  were  professors  of  law,  and 
three  were  lawyers  entitled  to  practice  before  the 
Cour  d'Appel. 

On  November  26,  the  armistice  having  in  the  mean- 
time been  proclaimed,  came  the  first  step  in  the  much- 

1  Decree  of  January  23,  1918. 


54  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

needed  rearrangement  of  ministerial  functions.  The 
Ministry  of  Armaments  and  War  Fabrications  was 
transformed  into  a  Ministry  of  Industrial  Reconstruc- 
tion, and  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction  in  the 
Ministry  of  Blockade  and  of  the  Liberated  Regions  was 
transferred  to  the  new  ministry.  Three  days  later  the 
services  of  transport,  food  control,  military  relations, 
and  the  reconstruction  of  buildings  were  placed  under 
the  special  charge  of  a  commissariat  general  in  the 
Ministry  of  Blockade.  On  December  11  the  further 
direction  of  blockade  was  transferred  to  the  Ministry 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  the  Ministry  of  Blockade  and 
of  the  Liberated  Regions  became  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  latter 
ministry  did  not  as  yet  embrace  the  important  subject 
of  industrial  reconstruction,  that  field  being  still  the 
special  province  of  the  Ministry  of  Industrial  Recon- 
struction, and  that  railways  were  still  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works  and  Transport. 
The  long  period  of  beginnings  and  administrative 
experiments  was  now  drawing  to  its  close.  On  Decem- 
ber 12  the  prefects  were  authorized  to  requisition 
building  material  from  buildings  wholly  or  partially 
destroyed,  provided  the  material  was  not  being  used 
for  rebuilding  and  was  not  of  architectural  or  artistic 
value.  Commissions  for  the  evaluation  of  such  ma- 
terial were  provided  for  on  February  13.  By  a  law  of 
January  10^  1919,  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport  was  empowered  to  take  any  steps  necessary 
to  insure  the  restoration  of  railway  lines,  including 
rolling  stock  and  other  appointments,  to  a  condition 
equivalent  to  that  in  which  they  were  on  January  1, 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     55 

1914,  a  special  credit  of  600,000,000  francs  being 
opened  for  this  purpose.  On  February  2  all  railway 
lines,  except  those  in  process  of  reconstruction  and 
local  lines  operated  by  French  companies  or  by  the 
Allies,  were  ordered  to  be  returned  to  their  owners  on 
and  after  February  10  and  until  the  end  of  the  war.1 
A  consultative  committee  on  war  damages  was  created 
within  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  on  Feb- 
ruary 17,  while  laws  of  March  4  and  March  14  dealt 
with  the  delimitation  and  allotment  of  landed  prop- 
erty in  the  devastated  zone,  and  with  proposals  for  the 
extension  and  replanning  of  towns.  Finally,  with  the 
promulgation  of  the  great  statute  of  April  17  reestab- 
lishing the  bases  for  the  evaluation  and  settlement  of 
war  damages,  the  first  period  in  the  history  of  recon- 
struction ended  and  the  restoration  of  the  invaded 
departments  entered  upon  a  new  phase. 

A  review  of  the  long  period  from  August,  1914,  to 
April,  1919,  unquestionably  affords  abundant  ground 
for  criticism.  It  is  clear  that  the  government  policy 
was  lacking  in  definiteness  and  consistency,  and  that 
the  division  of  administrative  responsibility  between 
the  different  ministries,  all  of  which  had  at  one  time 
or  another  a  voice  in  the  matter,  seriously  impeded 
the  work  of  reconstruction  as  a  whole.  On  the  other 
hand,  every  attempt  to  insure  interministerial  co- 
operation by  creating  new  committees  or  commissions 
or  by  reorganizing  old  ones  had  failed,  and  the  outlook 
in  that  direction  was  fairly  to  be  regarded  as  hopeless. 

*  The  state  of  siege  was  raised  on  October  12,  1919,  when  the  sig- 
nature of  the  treaty  of  Versailles  by  the  President  of  the  Council 
(M.  Clemenceau)  was  approved  by  the  chambers. 


56  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  all-important  question  of  war  damages  had  been 
dealt  with  throughout  the  war  upon  principles  which, 
however  well  they  may  have  accorded  with  law  or 
precedent,  had  failed  to  meet  the  obvious  necessities 
of  sinistres.  The  volume  of  laws,  decrees,  and  official 
pronouncements  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  work 
actually  accomplished,  and  the  array  of  functionaries 
was  excessive  in  comparison  with  the  record  of  their 
achievement.  What  with  a  complicated  and  ineffective 
system,  a  redundant  and  largely  undisciplined  per- 
sonnel, an  insufficient  theory  of  indemnity  for  war 
losses,  and  only  the  beginnings  of  government  credits, 
more  than  one  sinistra  felt  that  he  had  been  left  to 
work  out  his  own  salvation  for  the  present  and,  for 
the  future,  to  rest  in  hope. 

There  were  extenuating  circumstances,  however,  that 
temper  criticism.  The  problem  of  reconstruction, 
whether  looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  legal 
theory  or  from  that  of  administrative  procedure,  was 
a  new  one,  and  neither  law  nor  experience  threw  much 
light  upon  its  solution.  Its  material  magnitude  was 
appalling  and  its  possible  ramifications  well-nigh  limit- 
less. It  would  have  been  indeed  remarkable  if  the 
right  method  of  solution  had  been  worked  out  in  a  few 
months,  or  if  the  best  way  of  administering  a  task  un- 
precedentedly  huge  and  complex  had  been  discovered 
without  first  trying  a  number  of  experiments,  or  if 
credits  without  limit  had  been  voted  for  an  undertak- 
ing whose  colossal  ultimate  cost  no  one  as  yet  could 
estimate.  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  moreover,  that 
until  November,  1918,  the  war  was  actively  going  on, 
and  that  the  varying  course  of  military  operations, 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION     57 

raising  the  nation  to  a  high  pinnacle  of  hope  and 
confidence  to-day,  clouding  the  stoutest  hearts  with 
apprehension  to-morrow,  made  the  organization  of 
defense  and  victory  rather  than  the  reconstitution  of 
what  had  been  destroyed  the  overshadowing  considera- 
tion. No  less  than  five  ministries  held  office  during 
the  period  of  the  war,  and  the  union  sacree  which 
united  political  parties  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war 
did  not  prevent  radical  divergences  of  view  in  regard 
to  reconstruction.  Much  has  been  written  and  more 
has  been  said  about  the  slow  and  cumbersome  methods 
of  French  administration  and  its  inability  to  cope 
effectively  with  new  conditions  or  with  a  crisis,  but  it 
may  well  be  doubted  if  any  nation,  faced  with  the 
problem  of  reconstruction  under  the  conditions  in 
which  that  problem  faced  France  down  to  1919,  would 
have  been  likely  to  accomplish  more  or  temporize  less. 
The  extraordinary  administrative  inefficiency  and  de- 
moralization which  prevailed  in  more  than  one  branch 
of  the  public  service  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  both  during  and  long  after  the  war  may  well 
serve  to  moderate  criticism  of  French  shortcomings. 

Nor  were  the  material  results  wholly  discouraging. 
There  was  more  progress  in  1917-1918  than  in  1915- 
1916,  and  more  between  the  armistice  and  April,  1919, 
than  during  the  previous  year.  In  more  than  half  of 
the  invaded  departments  cantonal  commissions  were  at 
work  and  advance  payments  on  account  were  being 
made.1    Thanks  in  large  part  to  the  assistance  which 

1See  an  important  circular  issued  by  M.  Leon  Malvy,  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  on  May  7,  1917,  reprinted  in  the  Bulletin  des  Regions 
Liberies. 


58  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  government  had  granted  and  the  credits  which  had 
been  made  available,  a  considerable  percentage  of  the 
refugee  population  had  returned  by  the  spring  of  1919, 
municipal  life  had  been  resumed  in  many  communes, 
thousands  of  hectares  were  in  crops,  railways,  roads, 
and  bridges  were  actually  being  restored,  rebuilding 
had  been  begun,  and  local  trade  was  reviving.  The 
work  of  removing  explosives,  barbed  wire,  and  military 
debris  from  cultivable  land  had  already  proceeded  far. 
The  larger  towns  had  church  services  and  primary 
schools,  the  provision  of  telegraph,  telephone,  and  elec- 
tric light  was  being  extended,  and  young  men  and 
women  were  marrying  and  beginning  home  life  in  the 
ruins.  That  much  of  what  had  been  accomplished 
was  the  work  of  the  people  rather  than  of  the  govern- 
ment, that  progress  was  very  unevenly  distributed  and 
great  areas  still  remained  almost  untouched,  and  that 
the  aggregate  was  small  in  comparison  with  what  re- 
mained to  be  done,  was  obvious  enough ;  but  the  task 
was  colossal.  The  shortcomings  of  the  government 
had  indeed  been  many  and  serious,  but  the  call  was 
nevertheless  for  courage,  intelligence,  devotion,  and 
sacrifice  rather  than  for  recrimination  or  despair. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION" 

The  law  of  April  17,  1919,  providing  for  the  repara- 
tion of  war  damages,  was  evolved  only  after  long  con- 
troversy in  the  Senate  and  Chamber  of  Deputies  and 
earnest  discussion  in  the  press  and  in  the  country. 
Conflicting  theories  of  law,  policy,  and  procedure,  each 
supported  by  strong  arguments  and  expounded  by  able 
advocates,  struggled  for  ascendancy  in  the  long  debate. 
No  government  had  ever  committed  itself  to  the  propo- 
sition that  losses  occasioned  by  war  were  to  be  reim- 
bursed by  the  state  as  a  matter  of  right,  or  that  finan- 
cial responsibility  attached  to  a  whole  people  for  mak- 
ing good  the  injuries  which  a  part  of  the  people  had 
suffered.  As  a  matter  of  fact  most  war  losses  had 
never  been  reimbursed  at  all,  the  inhabitants  of  a 
war  zone,  whether  or  not  they  were  themselves  in  any 
way  responsible  for  the  war,  being  with  rare  excep- 
tions left  to  bear  in  their  own  persons  or  property  the 
injuries  which  they  had  sustained.  If  their  houses  had 
been  destroyed,  it  was  they  who  must  rebuild ;  if  their 
farms  were  ravaged,  it  was  they  who  must  restore 
fields,  pastures,  orchards,  or  woodland;  if  their  indus- 
tries were  prostrated,  it  was  they  who  must  set  them 
up  again.  When  reparation  had  been  accorded  by  the 
state  it  had  always  been  as  an  act  of  grace,  a  favor 
by  which  the  state  acknowledged  the  sacrifice  which 
the  citizen  had  made  on  its  behalf;  but  it  had  never 

59  r  .>  * 


r  * 


\* 


60  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

been  recognized  as  a  right  which  the  citizen  might 
claim,  either  politically  before  a  legislature  or  legally 
before  a  court.  No  claim  for  damages  could  properly 
be  lodged  against  the  state  unless  the  state  had  erred, 
and  no  state  that  went  to  war,  whether  for  aggression 
or  for  defense,  ever  regarded  itself  as  having  erred. 

The  history  of  France  showed  confusing  divergences 
of  theory  and  practice.  On  July  31,  1792,  the  National 
Assembly  approved  the  following  introduction  to  a  law 
providing  for  the  payment  of  damages  in  the  frontier 
departments:  "The  National  Assembly,  considering 
that  if  in  a  war  whose  object  is  the  conservation  of 
liberty,  independence,  the  French  constitution,  every 
citizen  owes  to  the  state  the  sacrifice  of  his  life  and 
his  fortune,  the  state  ought  in  its  turn  to  protect  the 
citizens  who  devoted  themselves  to  its  defense;  wishing 
to  give  to  foreign  nations  the  first  example  of  the  fra- 
ternity which  unites  the  citizens  of  a  free  people  and 
which  makes  of  common  concern  to  all  the  individuals 
of  the  social  body  the  injuries  occasioned  to  one  of  its 
members,  the  Assembly  decrees  urgency  and  lays  down 
the  principle  of  national  responsibility."  The  law 
itself,  however,  restricted  indemnities  to  those  losses 
only  which  had  been  caused  by  enemies,  and  made  the 
payments  proportional  to  the  fortune  which  the  citi- 
zen still  retained,  and  to  his  needs,  and  to  the  losses 
which  could  be  proved.  If  he  were  still  rich  he  had 
little  to  hope  for;  if  he  were  poor  he  might  be  more 
or  less  completely  reimbursed. 

Again,  in  1793,  the  Convention  declared  "in  the 
name  of  the  nation"  that  it  would  "indemnify  all  citi- 
zens for  the  losses  which  they  have  suffered  or  which 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  61 

they  shall  suffer  by  reason  of  the  invasion  of  French 
territory  by  the  enemy,  or  by  demolitions  or  injuries 
which  the  common  defense  has  required  on  our  part." 
The  declaration  showed  an  advance  on  that  of  1792  in 
that  it  included  losses  occasioned  by  French  troops. 
The  decree  which  gave  effect  to  the  declaration,  how- 
ever, limited  the  indemnity  of  any  one  person  to  twice 
the  net  income  of  his  real  property,  and  to  not  more 
than  2,000  livres  for  personalty. 

The  same  contrariety  appeared  in  1871,  after  the 
Franco-Prussian  war.  A  commission  of  the  National 
Assembly  laid  down  the  broad  principle  that  "the  war 
contributions,  requisitions  in  money  or  in  kind,  fines, 
and  direct  material  damages  which  the  war  and  in- 
vasion have  visited  upon  the  inhabitants,  communes, 
and  departments  of  a  portion  of  French  territory  will 
be  borne  by  the  whole  nation."  The  influence  of 
Thiers  was  sufficient  to  change  this,  when  the  law  came 
to  be  voted,  to  read:  "A  reparation  will  be  accorded  to 
all  those  who  have  suffered,  during  the  invasion,  war 
contributions,  requisitions  in  money  or  kind,  fines,  and 
material  damages."  In  reporting  in  1873  votes  of 
credit  for  the  payment  of  these  damages,  care  was 
taken  to  announce  that  neither  a  right  to  indemnity 
nor  the  existence  of  a  state  debt  was  to  be  understood 
as  implied;  while  the  report  which  accompanied  the 
law  of  July  28,  1874,  providing  further  credits,  frankly 
stated  that  in  the  view  of  the  commission  "the  measure 
will  be  considered  as  wholly  exceptional ;  it  constitutes 
an  indemnity  accorded  solely  as  an  act  of  grace.1 

1  These  examples  are  taken  from  the  statement  of  reasons  accom- 
panying the  proposed  law  submitted  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  on 


62  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  question  of  whether  or  not  reparation  for  war 
losses  should  be  recognized  as  a  right  rather  than  as 
an  act  of  grace  was  obviously  different  from  the  ques- 
tion as  to  what  losses  should  be  reimbursed,  but  in 
practice  a  decision  of  the  one  question  involved  con- 
sideration of  the  other.  On  the  first  point  the  govern- 
ment early  reached  a  decision.  The  announcement  to 
the  prefects  on  October  27,  1914,  of  the  purpose  of  the 
government  to  aid,  with  all  the  means  at  its  disposal, 
the  people  who  were  suffering  from  the  war  and  to  call 
upon  the  departments  not  invaded  for  help,  does  not 
of  itself  imply  any  fundamental  change  either  in 
theory  or  in  practice.  On  December  22,  however,  in 
a  declaration  to  the  chambers,  the  government  stated 
its  position.  "Under  the  pressure  of  invasion  depart- 
ments have  been  occupied  and  ruins  have  accumulated. 
The  government  takes  before  you  a  solemn  engage- 
ment, which  it  has  already  in  part  executed,  in  pro- 
posing to  you  a  first  opening  of  credit  of  three  hun- 
dred millions.  France  will  restore  those  ruins,  count- 
ing confidently  upon  the  proceeds  of  the  indemnities 
which  we  shall  exact  and,  in  the  meantime,  upon  the 
help  of  a  contribution  which  the  whole  nation  will 
pay,  gladly,  in  the  distress  of  a  part  of  its  children,  to 
fulfill  the  role  of  national  solidarity.  Further,  repudi- 
ating the  form  of  relief,  which  indicates  favor,  the  state 
itself  proclaims  the  right  to  reparation  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  have  been  victims,  in  the  matter  of  their 
possessions,  of  acts  of  war,  and  it  will  fulfill  its  duty 
to  the  largest  limits  which  the  financial  capacity  of 
the  country  shall  permit  and  under  conditions  which 

May  11,  1915,  citing  Joseph  Barthelemy,  Le  principe  de  la  reparation 
integrate  des  dommages  causes  par  la  guerre. 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  63 

a  special  law,  designed  to  avoid  all  injustice  and  all 
arbitrariness,  will  determine." 

This  statement,  unique  in  the  history  of  govern- 
ments, was  followed  on  December  26  by  the  law,  al- 
ready referred  to,  creating  departmental  commissions 
of  evaluation  and  appropriating  300,000,000  francs 
toward  the  payment  of  war  damages.  That  losses 
caused  by  French  or  Allied  troops  were  not  yet  con- 
sidered as  damages  to  be  reimbursed  is  evident  from 
the  extension  to  the  invaded  communes  in  February, 
1915,  of  the  benefits  of  a  law  of  1877  relating  to  pay- 
ments for  property  requisitioned  by  the  military 
forces. 

The  legislative  history  of  the  law  of  April  17,  1919, 
begins  with  the  presentation  by  the  government  to  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  on  May  11,  1915,  of  a  proposed 
law  regarding  war  damages.  The  law  itself  was  brief, 
providing  only  (1)  that  reparation  was  to  be  made 
for  injuries  to  real  or  personal  property  occasioned  by 
the  war,  provided  such  injuries  are  "material,  certain, 
and  direct";  (2)  that  the  right  to  indemnity  should 
be  conditioned  upon  the  reemployment  of  the  indem- 
nity in  ways  similar  to  those  in  which  the  damaged 
property  had  been  used;  (3)  reserving  for  later  legis- 
lation the  treatment  of  indemnities  due  to  communes, 
departments,  public  enterprises,  and  state  or  local  con- 
cessionaires; and  (4)  denying  the  right  of  recourse 
to  the  courts  for  the  recovery  of  the  indemnities 
proposed. 

A  scrutiny  of  the  proposed  law  and  of  the  statement 
of  reasons  which  accompanied  it1  shows  clearly  the 

1  Chamber  of  Deputies,  1915,  No.  904.  The  official  sponsors  for 
the  proposed  law  were  MM.  Rene  Viviani,  President  of  the  Council 


64  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

position  of  the  government  at  this  time.  Indemnity 
for  war  losses  was  recognized  as  a  right  and  not  as  a 
favor,  although  not  as  a  right  which  could  be  prose- 
cuted in  the  courts.  The  right  extended  to  depart- 
ments, communes,  corporations,  or  enterprises  of  a 
public  character,  and  state  or  local  concessionaires  as 
well  as  to  individuals.  It  was  not  expected  that  the 
indemnities  would  necessarily  be  paid  immediately  or 
that  the  state,  in  conceding  a  right  to  indemnity, 
thereby  pledged  itself  to  an  aggregate  of  payments  be- 
yond its  means.  The  particular  financial  arrange- 
ments which  would  be  necessary  were  left  for  later  con- 
sideration, when  the  results  of  the  evaluation  of  dam- 
ages should  be  known;  in  the  meantime  300,000,000 
francs  had  been  made  available  for  urgent  needs.  In 
no  case,  however,  was  a  sinistre  to  be  entitled  to  in- 
demnity unless  the  indemnity  was  to  be  reemployed, 
and  the  state  claimed  a  right  to  supervise  both  the 
composition  of  the  claim  and  the  conditions  of  reem- 
ployment. Under  no  circumstances,  moreover,  were 
indirect  losses  to  be  indemnified.  Finally,  it  was  the 
welfare  of  France  and  not  merely  the  restoration  of 
certain  invaded  districts  that  was  to  be  kept  in  view. 
"It  is  not  to  the  invaded  departments,"  declares  the 
statement  of  reasons,  "that  the  nation  owes  legitimate 
indemnity;  it  is  to  itself.  It  is  not  our  frontier  depart- 
ments that  have  been  invaded,  it  is  France."  The  law 
to  be  invoked,  in  other  words,  was  not  civil  but  social. 
The  adoption  thus  early  in  the  war  of  a  new  prin- 
ciple of  national  responsibility  for  war  damages,  even 

(Premier),  A.  Ribot,  Minister  of  Finance,  L.  Malvy,  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  and  Gaston  Doumergue,  Minister  of  the  Colonies. 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  65 

with  the  limited  scope  which  as  yet  was  given  to  the 
principle  in  application,  cannot  well  be  separated  from 
the  question  of  the  German  reparations  and  indem- 
nities. Any  detailed  consideration  of  this  latter  ques- 
tion, in  either  its  theory  or  its  practical  ramifications, 
would  be  outside  the  purpose  of  the  present  discussion. 
It  may  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  France  might 
well  have  hesitated  to  assume  the  huge  financial  re- 
sponsibility which  the  restoration  of  the  invaded  de- 
partments was  certain  to  involve  if  it  had  not,  in  com- 
mon with  its  Allies,  assumed  that  the  cost  of  restora- 
tion would  ultimately  be  paid  by  Germany.  The 
eventual  embodiment  of  this  assumption  in  the  treaty 
of  Versailles  1  not  only  gave  international  approval  to 
the  principle  which  France  had  announced,  so  far  at 
least  as  France  was  concerned,  and  which  had  received 
by  1919  a  far  wider  extension  than  it  had  in  1915,  but 
also  bound  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  to  see  to 
it  that  the  application  of  the  principle  was  not  de- 
feated by  failure  on  the  part  of  Germany  to  meet  the 
requirements  imposed  upon  it.  France,  in  other  words, 
was  in  good  faith  bound  to  proceed  with  reconstruction 
as  a  national  task,  and  Germany  was  bound  to  pay. 
The  success  of  the  reconstruction  policy,  accordingly, 
once  its  foundation  principle  was  enunciated,  became 
inseparably  bound  up  with  the  question  of  reparations 
and  indemnities  to  be  exacted  from  Germany;  and 
while  it  is  hardly  conceivable  that  France  would  have 

1"The  Allied  and  Associated  Governments  declare  and  Germany 
recognizes  that  Germany  and  its  allies  are  responsible,  by  reason  of 
having  caused  them,  for  all  the  losses  and  all  damages  sustained  by 
the  Allied  and  Associated  Governments  and  their  nationals  in  conse- 
quence of  the  war  which  has  been  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
aggression  of  Germany  and  its  allies"  (Part  VIII,  Article  231). 


66  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

repudiated  the  principle  of  national  responsibility  even 
if  the  demand  for  reparation  had  failed,  it  was  clear 
that  the  government  might  before  long  be  gravely 
embarrassed  financially  if  the  huge  advances  which  it 
must  make  in  anticipation  of  repayment  were  not 
eventually  reimbursed.1 

Further  progress  in  the  elaboration  of  the  law  was 
for  a  long  time  blocked  by  the  attitude  of  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies.  Notwithstanding  the  traditional  concep- 
tion of  the  Senate  as  essentially  an  aristocratic  body 
and  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  as  the  body  which 
most  accurately  represented  the  people,  it  was  the 
deputies  who  stubbornly  insisted  that  the  reemploy- 
ment of  indemnities  should  be  made  compulsory  if 
anything  beyond  the  original  value  of  the  property  was 
to  be  reimbursed.  In  ministerial  circles,  too,  this  posi- 
tion had  influential  support.  The  reason  for  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  not  to  be  found 
in  a  desire  to  do  less  than  justice  to  the  sinistres,  but 
rather  in  the  fear  that  if  the  reemployment  of  indem- 
nities was  not  made  compulsory  many  sinistres  would 
take  their  indemnities  but  would  not  return  to  the  in- 
vaded departments.  The  fact  that  a  good  many  sin- 
istres had  reestablished  their  businesses  in  other  parts 
of  France,  taken  in  connection  with  the  long  period 
which  it  was  believed  must  elapse  before  the  recon- 
struction of  the  devastated  area  could  be  accomplished, 
was  pointed  to  as  convincing  proof  of  what  would 
happen  if  reemployment  were  not  made  obligatory. 
Only  with  compulsory  reemployment,  it  was  insisted, 

1  Andre  Toulemon,  La  Reparation  des  Dommages  de  Guerre  (Paris, 
1921),  has  some  interesting  observations  on  the  international  aspects 
of  reparations  and  reconstruction. 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  67 

would  the  return  of  the  industrial  population  be  in- 
sured and  the  migration  of  considerable  numbers  of 
sinistres  prevented.  That  this  fear  had  any  substan- 
tial foundation  is  not  apparent,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  genuinely  entertained. 

The  widespread  dissatisfaction  which  the  position 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  occasioned  among  the 
sinistres  led,  however,  to  a  modification  of  the  provi- 
sions regarding  reemployment.  In  place  of  compulsory 
reemployment  the  tribunals  for  the  evaluation  of  war 
damages  were  authorized  to  dispense  with  the  require- 
ment in  cases  where  physical  or  moral  obstacles  made 
reemployment  impracticable  or  impossible.  With  this 
concession  the  proposed  law,  after  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half  of  discussion,  was  finally  adopted  by  the 
Chamber  on  January  23,  1917.  But  the  modified  pro- 
posal proved  to  be  no  more  acceptable  to  the  sinistres 
than  the  original  had  been.  Strong  opposition  was 
voiced  to  leaving  the  question  of  reemployment  to  the 
decision,  very  possibly  prejudiced,  of  any  tribunal,  and 
to  requiring  sinistres  to  divulge  their  private  affairs, 
physical  condition,  or  plans  as  a  condition  of  the  free 
use  of  their  indemnities.  It  was  the  Senate  rather 
than  the  popular  Chamber  that  championed  liberty. 
In  an  able  report  submitted  to  the  Senate  on  August 
3  by  M.  Reynald  the  whole  theory  of  social  vs.  indi- 
vidual interest  in  reconstruction  was  traversed  and 
compulsory  reemployment  rejected.  The  vice  of  the 
theory  of  compulsory  reemployment,  it  was  pointed 
out,  was  the  belief  that  reconstruction  would  be 
hastened  by  putting  pressure  upon  sinistres  who  were 
already  attached  to  the  soil  by  virtue  of  owning  their 


68  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

property,  at  the  same  time  that  no  such  pressure  was 
exercised  upon  the  far  larger  number  of  sinistres  who 
had  no  real  property  and  who  consequently  were  free 
to  migrate.  Compulsory  reemployment  was  further 
declared  to  be  objectionable  because  it  interfered  with 
individual  rights  and  established  a  species  of  servitude. 
Most  of  all,  however,  it  involved  a  fundamental  eco- 
nomic error.  "It  is  the  desire  that  the  invaded  country 
shall  be  restored,  that  its  strength  and  energy  shall  be 
reestablished;  we  desire  that  also;  but  we  are  also 
deeply  persuaded  that  only  a  policy  of  liberty  will 
permit  or  favor  that  rebirth."  l 

A  compromise  was  accordingly  proposed  under 
which  a  premium  was  to  be  placed  upon  reemploy- 
ment, the  sinistre  being  left  free  to  reemploy  or  not  as 
he  chose.  If  he  did  not  reemploy,  his  indemnity  would 
be  limited  to  the  loss  actually  sustained,  which  would 
mean  the  value  of  his  property  in  1914.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  contributed  by  reemployment  to  the 
general  work  of  restoration,  his  indemnity  would  in- 
clude not  only  the  value  of  his  property  in  1914  but 
also  a  supplementary  amount  sufficient,  counting  the 
enhanced  cost  of  construction,  to  enable  him  to  rebuild 
substantially  as  before  the  war. 

The  proposed  law  thus  modified  was  adopted  by  the 
Senate  on  December  22.  The  Chamber  of  Deputies 
refused  to  accept  the  proposal  regarding  reemployment, 
still  insisting  that  the  obligation  to  reemploy  should 
be  dispensed  with  only  on  the  authorization  of  a 
tribunal.  A  report  embodying  this  position  was  laid 
before  the  Senate  on  September  27.     Before  it  had 

"The  Reynald  report  (Senate,  1917,  No.  315)  is  in  the  Journal 
Officiel,  November  6. 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  69 

been  finally  acted  upon  the  armistice  of  November 
11  had  ended  hostilities.  With  the  certainty  that  the 
cost  of  reparation  would  now  be  charged  to  Germany, 
reconstruction  entered  upon  a  new  phase.  The  Min- 
ister of  Blockade  and  of  the  Liberated  Regions  inter- 
ested himself  to  bring  about  an  accord  between  the 
chambers  by  proposing  a  discrimination,  in  case  in- 
demnities were  not  reemployed,  between  sinistres  who 
offered  good  and  sufficient  reasons  and  those  who  did 
not.  Organizations  of  sinistres  also  exerted  strong 
pressure  upon  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  dean  of 
the  faculty  of  law,  M.  Larnande,  threw  his  influence 
into  the  scale,  and  a  meeting  of  the  States  General  of 
the  devastated  regions,  presided  over  by  M.  Ribot, 
was  held.  The  budget  commission  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  whose  opinion  had  been  called  for,  reported 
on  December  18  that  reparations  should  be  complete 
and  immediate.  With  slight  modification  the  minis- 
terial suggestion  was  reluctantly  accepted,  and  on 
February  1,  1919,  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  adopted 
the  amended  project.1 

The  Senate,  still  the  champion  of  the  sinistres  and 
of  liberty,  not  only  refused  to  recede  from  its  position 
in  regard  to  reemployment,  but  also  restored  to  mer- 
cantile capital  the  right  to  indemnification  which  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  had  denied.  Certain  limitations 
on  the  amount  to  be  paid  in  indemnities  were  also  in- 
corporated.2   The  amended  draft,  adopted  on  March 

1  For  full  statements  of  the  points  at  issue  see  the  two  reports  of 
M.  Edouard  Eymond,  September  27  and  December  6,  1918  (Chamber 
of  Deputies,  1918,  Nos.  5021  and  5375).  The  budget  commission 
report,  containing  wealth  of  data  regarding  war  losses,  is  No.  5432. 

aReynald  report,  March  5  (Senate,  1919,  No.  79),  where  the  text 
of  the  law  as  adopted  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the  changes 
proposed  by  the  Senate  are  shown  in  parallel  columns. 


70  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

25,  was  laid  before  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  on  April 
3.  The  Chamber  accepted  the  proposal  of  freedom 
in  the  matter  of  reemployment,  coupled  with  a 
premium  in  case  the  indemnity  was  reemployed,  and 
relieved  the  sinistre  from  the  necessity  of  obtaining  the 
authorization  of  a  tribunal  if  the  indemnity  was  not  to 
be  reemployed,  save  where  the  right  to  indemnity  had 
been  assigned.  The  exclusion  of  mercantile  capital, 
however,  was  adhered  to,  although  a  special  law  was 
promised  to  deal  with  the  subject.  The  other  changes 
concerned  details  rather  than  principles.1  The 
amended  proposal  was  transmitted  to  the  Senate  on 
April  11,  and  on  the  17th  was  approved.2 

More  than  three  years  and  eleven  months  had 
passed  since  the  law  was  first  proposed.  The  first 
period  of  consideration  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
had  covered  a  year  and  eight  months,  the  Senate  had 
followed  with  a  debate  extending  over  eleven  months, 
and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  had  again  deliberated 
for  thirteen  months.  No  less  than  nine  elaborate  re- 
ports had  been  submitted.  Whatever  defects  the  law 
might  contain,  no  one  could  say  that  it  had  not  been 
long  and  carefully  considered,  that  every  argument 
had  not  been  repeatedly  weighed,  or  that  the  sinistres 
and  their  representatives  had  not  had  abundant  oppor- 
tunity to  be  heard.  No  law  of  the  Republic  had  ever 
been  more  thoroughly  debated  or  more  painstakingly 
framed. 

By  the  law  of  April  17,  1919,  all  damages  certain, 
material,  and  direct,  in  France  and  Algiers,  to  real  or 

1Eymond  report,  April  5  (Chamber  of  Deputies,  1919,  No.  5946). 
'Reynald  report,  April  11  (Senate,  1919,  No.  171). 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  71 

personal  property  due  to  acts  of  war  are  entitled  to 
reparation  as  promised  by  the  law  of  December  26, 
1914.  Five  classes  of  injuries  or  losses  are  recognized: 
(1)  requisitions  or  other  exactions  of  the  enemy;  (2) 
movable  property  of  all  kinds  carried  away,  injured, 
or  destroyed,  including  losses  during  evacuation  or 
repatriation;  (3)  real  property  injured  or  destroyed, 
including  forests  and  commercial,  agricultural,  or  in- 
dustrial property  recognized  as  real  property  by  desti- 
nation; (4)  losses  under  any  of  the  three  classes  just 
specified  which  occurred  within  the  military  zone, 
without  regard  to  questions  of  legal  liability  ordinarily 
applicable  to  property  so  situated;  (5)  injuries  or 
losses  sustained  by  fishing  vessels.  Losses  caused  by 
acts  of  the  French  or  Allied  armies  are  entitled  to 
reparation  as  well  as  those  caused  by  the  enemy.  Sub- 
ject to  special  regulations  in  particular  cases,  the  right 
to  indemnity  is  extended  to  associations,  public  cor- 
porations, communes,  and  departments  as  well  as  to 
individuals  and  their  heirs. 

The  indemnity  for  losses  of  real  property  is  fixed 
at  an  amount  equal  to  the  value  of  the  property  on 
the  eve  of  mobilization,  allowance  being  made  for 
depreciation,  supplemented  by  such  amounts  as  are 
necessary  for  reconstruction  or  repair,  taking  into 
account  the  difference  in  cost  between  1914  and  the 
date  when  the  evaluation  is  made.  If  the  indemnity 
is  not  to  be  employed  in  rebuilding  or  restoration,  only 
the  amount  of  the  actual  loss  sustained  is  to  be  re- 
imbursed. Where  the  deduction  on  account  of  depre- 
ciation through  age  exceeds  10,000  francs,  the  excess 
is  to  be  advanced  by  the  state  to  the  sinistre  upon 


72  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

demand,  subject  to  repayment.  In  the  case  of  agri- 
cultural property  the  deduction  for  depreciation  is  not 
to  exceed  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  estimated  cost  of 
construction  at  the  time  of  mobilization.  Reemploy- 
ment of  the  indemnity  is,  in  general,  to  be  effected 
within  the  commune  where  the  loss  was  sustained  or 
within  a  radius  of  fifty  kilometres  therefrom,  but  not 
outside  of  the  war  zone.  In  the  case  of  real  property 
other  than  buildings,  the  amount  of  damages  reim- 
bursable is  to  be  determined  by  taking  into  account 
the  deterioration  of  the  soil,  vineyards,  forests,  in- 
closures,  etc.,  and  the  cost  of  restoration  if  the  indem- 
nity is  to  be  reemployed. 

Where  an  indemnity  is  not  to  be  reemployed,  the 
amount  due  is  to  be  paid  to  the  sinistra  in  the  form 
of  a  bond  (titre)  bearing  interest  at  five  per  cent., 
inalienable  for  five  years,  and  payable  in  cash  after 
five  years  in  ten  annual  installments. 

Losses  of  personal  property  are  to  be  indemnified 
on  the  basis  of  the  value  of  the  property  on  June  30, 
1914,  except  in  the  case  of  agricultural  products,  where 
the  date  of  evaluation  is  the  date  when  the  crop  would 
have  matured.  Supplements  for  replacement  over  and 
above  the  estimated  value  at  the  time  o£  loss  or  injury 
are  allowed,  in  the  case  of  material  or  equipment  em- 
ployed in  commerce  or  industry^  to  an  amount  neces- 
sary to  enable  the  business  to  be  carried  on  for  three 
months;  in  the  case  of  agricultural  equipment,  to  the 
next  harvest;  in  the  case  of  personal  effects,  household 
furniture,  and  the  like,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
3,000  francs  for  any  one  claimant.  Losses  of  govern- 
ment bonds  or  coupons  are  to  be  made  good  by  the 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  73 

delivery  of  other  securities  of  the  same  kind.  Pro- 
vision is  also  made  for  the  indemnification  of  public 
officials  who  lost  their  offices,  the  details,  however, 
being  left  for  later  regulation.  The  restoration  of 
public  buildings  of  historical  or  artistic  value  is  placed 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  a  special  commis- 
sion attached  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and 
Fine  Arts,  the  basis  of  indemnity  being  the  estimated 
cost  of  constructing  a  similar  building  for  similar  pur- 
poses or,  if  reconstruction  is  deemed  inadvisable,  the 
cost  of  a  new  site. 

For  the  evaluation  of  damages  commissions  are 
created  in  each  canton.  Each  commission  consists  of 
five  members,  one,  the  president,  being  a  lawyer  or 
judge,  one  a  representative  of  the  ministries  of  Finance 
and  the  Liberated  Regions,  one  an  architect,  contractor, 
or  engineer,  one  an  expert  in  matters  of  personal- 
property  valuation,  and  one  a  farmer,  manufacturer, 
merchant,  or  workman,  the  choice  in  the  latter  case 
being  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  damages  to  be 
evaluated.  Special  commissions  are  provided  for  mines 
and  forests.  The  cantonal  commissions  are  aided  by 
a  technical  committee  appointed  in  each  department^ 

For  the  revision  of  the  evaluations  made  by  the  can- 
tonal commissions  and  the  adjustment  of  contro- 
versies, there  is  further  provided  in  each  arrondissement 
in  which  cantonal  commissions  have  been  organized  a 
tribunal  of  war  damages,  divided  into  as  many  sections 
or  chambers,  each  of  five  members,  as  the  conduct  of 
business  may  require.  Claims  for  damages,  supported 
by  the  necessary  proofs,  are  submitted  to  the  cantonal 
commissions,  which  are  empowered  to  view  the  prop- 


74  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

erty,  examine  witnesses,  and  reconcile  disputes.  The 
final  decision  regarding  the  nature  and  extent  of  losses 
and  the  amount  of  indemnity  rests  with  the  tribunal 
of  the  arrondissement.  The  decisions  of  the  tribunal, 
except  on  questions  of  fact,  are  subject  to  review  by 
the  Council  of  State. 

The  payment  of  indemnities  is  to  be  made  by  the 
delivery  of  a  preliminary  or  ad  interim  certificate,  non- 
negotiable,  exchangeable  within  two  months  for  a  bond 
(titre)  covering  the  principal  sum  allowed,  together 
with  interest  at  five  per  cent,  from  the  date  at  which 
the  loss  was  incurred.  If  the  sinistre  reemploys  his 
indemnity,  he  is  entitled  to  a  first  advance  of  from 
3,000  to  100,000  francs  on  account  of  the  estimated 
value  of  his  property  in  1914  or  at  the  date  of  its 
injury  or  destruction,  and  to  advances  of  the  balance 
in  proportion  to  the  progress  of  the  reemployment. 
Additional  advances  may  also  be  made  to  meet  urgent 
needs.  The  right  is  reserved  to  the  state,  however,  to 
discharge  its  obligations  in  whole  or  in  part  by  granting 
to  the  sinistre  real  property  of  a  similar  nature  and 
equal  value  to  that  destroyed,  or  by  the  replacement 
of  personal  property,  or  by  itself  carrying  out  the  work 
of  restoration  or  furnishing  the  necessary  materials. 
The  state  may  also  take  over  any  real  property  if  the 
cost  of  restoring  the  land  exceeds  the  value  of  the  land. 
A  right  of  priority  is  accorded  to  sinistres  in  procuring 
and  transporting  material  and  in  obtaining  labor.  The 
entire  cost  of  clearing  away  the  debris  (deblaiement) , 
removing  explosives,  and  reestablishing  the  lines  of 
public  ways,  together  with  responsibility  for  acci- 
dents occasioned  by  the  explosion  of  projectiles,  is 
assumed  by  the  state. 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  75 

A  few  special  classes  of  damages  were  reserved  for 
later  regulation.  The  list  includes  damages  for  losses 
of  commercial  capital,1  personal  injuries,  losses  sus- 
tained by  state  arsenals,  factories,  and  munition  depots, 
and  losses  of  private  factories  operated  for  purposes  of 
national  defense  where  no  redress  at  common  law  can 
be  obtained. 

Such  are  the  main  provisions  of  the  law  of  war  dam- 
ages. Its  leading  principles  are  simple.  The  state 
undertakes  to  reimburse  all  direct  and  material  losses 
occasioned  by  the  war.  If  the  sinistre  does  not  intend 
to  rebuild  his  property  and  resume  his  former  occu- 
pation, the  reimbursement  which  he  will  receive  is 
limited  to  the  estimated  value  of  his  property  at  the 
time  of  its  destruction,  as  ascertained  by  commissions 
and  tribunals  created  for  the  purpose  of  evaluating 
losses.  If  the  property  is  to  be  reconstructed  and  the 
former  occupation  resumed,  reimbursement  is  enlarged 
to  include  the  estimated  cost  of  rebuilding  and  re- 
establishment.  In  the  case  of  historical  or  artistic 
monuments  which  cannot  be  rebuilt,  but  which  at  the 
same  time  represent  social  services  which  should  con- 
tinue to  be  performed,  the  indemnity  is  limited  to  the 
cost  of  a  new  site;  otherwise  the  indemnity  to  be  ac- 
corded equals  the  estimated  cost  of  reconstruction  or 
repair.  Immediate  cash  advances  are  authorized  for 
urgent  needs,  the  balance  of  the  indemnity  being  paid 
in  installments  as  the  work  of  reconstruction  progresses. 
In  addition,  the  state  assumes  all  the  expense  of  clear- 
ing ruins  and  debris  and  ridding  the  soil  of  explosives, 

1  The  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  replying  to  a  question  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  on  October  18,  1921,  stated  that  a  proposed 
law  on  this  subject  had  been  drafted  by  the  ministry  and  was  await- 
ing the  signature  of  the  Minister  of  Finance. 


76  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

at  the  same  time  asserting  title  to  all  the  material  so 
dealt  with.  Practically,  the  whole  process  of  restora- 
tion is  placed  under  state  control,  not  with  the  purpose 
of  eliminating  the  individual  but  in  order  that  the  task 
may  be  properly  performed. 

The  law  of  war  damages  is  one  of  the  great  legis- 
lative enactments  of  modern  times.  In  its  assumption 
on  the  part  of  the  state  of  responsibility  for  the  indem- 
nification of  all  direct  and  material  losses  due  to  the 
war,  it  not  only  enlarged  beyond  precedent  the  rights 
of  the  individual  and  bound  the  citizen  to  the  state  in 
new  ties  of  obligation  and  common  interest,  but  it  also 
pledged  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  state  to  the  financial 
support  of  an  undertaking  the  like  of  which  was  never 
attempted  by  any  government. 

There  is  a  wider  application  and  a  deeper  signifi- 
cance, also,  which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  Those 
who  framed  the  law  of  1919  may  perhaps  have  been 
concerned,  as  practical  men,  chiefly  with  the  erection 
of  a  system  under  which  the  devastated  departments 
might,  with  the  ultimate  help  of  German  reparations, 
be  effectively  and  speedily  restored.  But  they  also 
created  what  may  possibly  prove  to  be  one  of  the 
strongest  safeguards  against  future  war.  In  the  days 
when  kings  and  ministries  made  war  and  peace  the 
restoration  of  destroyed  property  was  not  a  factor;  but 
now  that  France,  recognizing  its  obligations  as  a  sov- 
ereign state  to  make  good  to  its  citizens  the  losses 
which  they  sustained,  has  in  common  with  the  Allies 
exacted  from  Germany  a  promise  of  ultimate  reim- 
bursement, no  future  war  can  be  begun  save  in  appre- 
hension of  a  like  exaction  from  the  aggressor.    The 


THE  POLICY  OF  REPARATION  77 

demands  of  chancellories  may  be  less  haughty  and  the 
assertiveness  of  national  spirit  more  restrained  if  once 
it  is  realized  that  to  the  cost  of  every  shell  may  perhaps 
be  added  the  cost  of  replacing  what  the  shell  destroys. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  ORGANIZATION   OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

It  will  be  recalled  that  at  the  moment  of  the  adop- 
tion of  the  law  of  April  17,  1919,  the  immediate  direc- 
tion of  the  reconstitution  of  the  invaded  departments 
had  been  committed  mainly  to  two  ministries,  the 
Ministry  of  Industrial  Reconstruction  and  the  Minis- 
try of  the  Liberated  Regions.  The  railways,  however, 
were  still  under  the  supervision  of  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Works  and  Transport,  and  the  restoration  of 
monuments,  but  not  the  evaluation  of  damages  to 
them,  had  been  placed  by  law  in  the  hands  of  a  special 
commission  responsible  to  the  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction and  Fine  Arts.  The  execution  of  certain  pro- 
visions of  the  law  of  April,  1919,  also  involved  action 
by  the  Minister  of  Finance,  sometimes  independently 
and  again  jointly  with  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions;  and  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and  Trans- 
port and  the  Minister  of  Justice  also  had  duties  to 
perform.  In  addition,  there  was  in  existence  a  consul- 
tative committee  on  war  damages,  organized  on  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1919,  within  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions,  but  in  reality  having  a  quasi-independent 
status  and  comprising  in  its  membership  senators  and 
deputies  as  well  as  ministerial  functionaries.  The  old 
interministerial  committee  also  continued. 

78 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    79 

It  was  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  to 
which  was  presently  attached  so  much  of  the  work  of 
industrial  reconstruction  as  concerned  the  invaded 
departments,  which  in  this  galaxy  of  official  heads 
played  in  practice  the  leading  role.  It  never  obtained 
complete  control  of  the  process  of  reconstruction,  how- 
ever. The  important  subject  of  financial  credits,  upon 
which  after  all  the  success  of  reconstruction  ultimately 
depended,  could  not  of  course  be  transferred  to  it.  The 
treatment  of  monuments  remained  in  charge  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts,  the 
reparation  of  damages  occasioned  by  FYench  troops 
involved  the  Ministry  of  War,  and  various  interna- 
tional questions  fell  under  the  jurisdiction,  in  whole  or 
in  part,  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs.  That  the 
evils  of  divided  authority  were  less  after  April,  1919, 
than  before  was,  however,  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  became,  from 
the  nature  of  the  undertaking,  the  preponderant  factor. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  law  of  war  damages  the 
organization  of  the  machinery  of  administration  went 
on  rapidly.  A  series  of  circulars  and  decrees  issued  in 
April  by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  M.  A. 
Lebrun,  applied  with  admirable  clearness  and  precision 
the  new  provisions  relating  to  the  constitution  of  the 
cantonal  commissions,  while  later  circulars  in  June 
and  September  outlined  the  principles  and  procedure 
applicable  to  the  evaluation  of  damages.  Nothing 
fundamental  had  afterwards  to  be  added  to  these 
important  pronouncements.  Technical  committees 
were  also  established  in  each  department  for  the  deter- 
mination of  values  and  costs  upon  which  the  award  of 


80  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

damages  for  actual  losses  and  supplementary  allow- 
ances for  replacement  could  be  based.  The  consulta- 
tive committee  on  war  damages  was  enlarged  in  June 
by  adding  to  it  the  presidents  of  the  commissions  of 
the  Senate  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  having  to  do 
with  legislation  affecting  the  liberated  departments, 
together  with  two  representatives  each  of  agriculture, 
industry,  and  commerce. 

These  steps  were  followed  on  July  16  by  the  creation 
of  an  economic  council,  charged  with  the  preparation 
and  execution  of  a  general  plan  for  the  supply  of  food 
and  other  necessaries  in  the  liberated  regions,  the  re- 
duction of  the  cost  of  living,  the  repression  of  specu- 
lation, and  the  general  development  of  economic  life. 
The  council,  over  which  the  Premier  presided,  com- 
prised eight  Cabinet  ministers  and  was  expected  to 
meet  at  least  once  a  week.  To  it  was  attached  a  per- 
manent commission,  including  among  others  five  under- 
secretaries of  state,  the  president  of  the  old  inter- 
ministerial  committee,  and  three  representatives  each 
of  employers  and  workers.  Besides  serving  as  a  kind 
of  executive  committee  of  the  economic  council,  the 
permanent  commission  was  also  charged  with  the 
establishment  of  relations  with  municipalities,  agricul- 
tural, commercial,  and  industrial  groups,  organizations 
of  workers  or  employers,  cooperative  societies,  and 
other  bodies. 

The  precise  relation  which  the  economic  council  was 
expected  to  bear  to  the  various  ministries  concerned 
with  reconstruction  is  not  clear.  Practically  it  was 
another  interministerial  committee,  but  having  to  do 
with   the   formulation   of  general  economic  policies 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    81 

rather  than  with  the  more  troublesome  task  of  insuring 
ministerial  cooperation. 

In  order  to  secure  still  greater  unity  in  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions,  the  central  and  departmental 
services  of  the  ministry  were  in  August  reconstituted. 
In  the  central  administration  the  administrative  and 
technical  functions  were  separated,  the  latter  now  in- 
cluding materials,  transport,  labor,  reconstruction  of 
highways  and  local  railways,  and  agriculture.  In  each 
department  the  prefect  was  made  the  administrative 
head  of  all  branches  of  the  service,  and  the  director  as 
well  of  all  the  technical  services  and  of  all  work  under- 
taken by  the  state.  To  any  one  familiar  with  the  num- 
ber and  variety  of  duties  which  devolve  upon  a  prefect 
in  ordinary  times,  the  additional  duties  imposed  by 
the  new  decree  would  seem  to  have  constituted  an 
almost  impossible  burden,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  decree  associated  with  the  prefect  a  secretary- 
general  for  administrative  work  and  a  director-general 
for  technical  matters.  A  service  of  control,  constituted 
on  September  8  for  the  supervision  of  the  execution  of 
laws,  decrees,  etc.,  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions,  was  also  transferred  to  the  prefects  on  Octo- 
ber 2.  The  net  effect  of  the  two  decrees  was  to  make 
the  prefect  the  most  important  agent  in  reconstruction 
next  to  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  himself.1 

Shortly  after  the  armistice  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions  obtained  an  absolute  right  of  priority 

1  For  a  model  of  luminous  exposition  of  a  complicated  subject  see 
the  circular  addressed  by  the  prefect  of  the  Nord,  M.  Armand 
Naudin,  on  November  11,  1919,  to  the  administrative  agents  having 
to  do  with  the  cantonal  commissions  for  the  evaluation  of  war 
damages  (Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberees,  June  6,  1920). 


82  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

in  the  purchase  of  such  material  in  the  left-over  army 
stocks  of  the  Allies  as  could  be  utilized  in  recon- 
struction. A  special  service  of  cessions,  organized  in 
December,  1918,  supervised  the  examination  of  the 
stocks  accumulated  at  the  various  depots  throughout 
France  and  the  selection  and  distribution  of  the  ma- 
terial. Included  in  the  acquisition  were  between  forty 
and  fifty  thousand  horses  and  mules  from  the  American 
depots  near  Coblentz,  Neufchateau,  and  Chatillon-sur- 
Seine.  Down  to  June  30,  1919,  property  to  the  value 
of  438,755,000  francs,  comprising  wagons  and  auto- 
mobiles, medical  supplies,  chemicals,  machinery  and 
tools,  barraques,  clothing,  furniture,  and  more  than  two 
thousand  varieties  of  construction  material  had  been 
ceded  to  the  ministry  and  was  in  process  of  distribu- 
tion or  sale  for  the  benefit  of  sinistres. 

A  further  reorganization  of  the  central  administra- 
tion of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  on 
January  10,  1920,  was  shortly  followed  by  a  larger  step 
in  the  direction  of  consolidation.  The  office  of  indus- 
trial reconstruction,  from  the  nature  of  its  functions 
one  of  the  most  important  agencies  which  had  been 
created,  had  undergone  varying  fortunes.  First  organ- 
ized in  August,  1917,  it  had  been  transferred  in 
December  of  that  year  to  the  hybrid  Ministry  of 
Blockade  and  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  where  it 
remained  until  November,  1918,  when  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  Ministry  of  Armaments  and  War  Fabrica- 
tions transferred  it  to  the  new  Ministry  of  Industrial 
Reconstruction.  It  was  now  detached  from  the  latter 
ministry  and  incorporated  in  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions.    The  main  lines  of  railway  having 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  83 

by  this  time  been  returned  to  their  owners,  practically 
all  of  the  work  of  material  restoration  within  the  war 
area,  except  monuments,  was  at  last  centralized  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  ministry.  The  economic  council 
dropped  quietly  out  of  sight,  and  the  interministerial 
committee,  which  had  been  again  reorganized  in 
December,  1919,  appears  to  have  taken  no  action  which 
became  a  matter  of  public  record.  Indeed,  through  a 
provision  empowering  the  president  of  the  committee 
to  study  on  the  spot  questions  which  came  before  the 
committee  when  authorized  to  do  so  by  the  Minister 
of  the  Liberated  Regions,  the  committee  was  virtually 
subordinated  to  the  ministry. 

Save  in  one  important  respect  which  will  presently 
be  mentioned,  later  administrative  changes  were  mainly 
formal.  The  various  services  grouped  within  the 
Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  were  from  time  to 
time  rearranged,  but  the  general  system  remained  the 
same.  The  special  committee  which  had  been  formed 
in  September,  1917,  to  deal  with  the  question  of 
housing  was  revived  in  April,  1920,  with  an  enlarged 
membership,  and  intrusted  with  the  study  of  general 
questions  affecting  reconstruction.  This  action,  prac- 
tically of  little  importance,  was  followed  on  May  3  by 
the  establishment  of  a  superior  council  to  deal  with 
materials,  labor,  and  transport.  It  was  hoped  that  this 
body,  the  membership  of  which  included  representa- 
tives of  numerous  associations  of  employers,  would  be 
able  to  formulate  an  annual  program  of  rebuilding 
based  upon  the  resources  of  the  budget  and  the  avail- 
able supplies  of  material  and  labor.  Nothing  of  the 
kind  appears  to  have  been  done,  however,  and  the 


84  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

history  of  the  council  is  mainly  comprised  in  the  record 
of  its  formation. 

To  the  sinistre,  bereft  of  his  property  by  the  war  and 
anxious  now  that  the  war  was  over  to  recover  his  dam- 
ages and  reestablish  his  occupation,  business,  or  pro- 
fession, changes  in  administrative  personnel  or  in  the 
distribution  of  departmental  duties  were  of  relatively 
small  interest.  What  he  was  chiefly  concerned  with 
was  the  speedy  settlement  of  his  claim  to  indemnity, 
prompt  payment  of  damages,  an  adequate  supply  of 
material  and  labor  for  rebuilding,  and  temporary  pro- 
vision of  shelter,  food;  and  supplies  until  he  could  once 
more  stand  upon  his  own  feet.  On  all  of  these  points 
the  volume  of  complaint  from  the  invaded  departments 
continued  to  be  large  and  its  flow  unbroken.  The 
evaluation  of  damages,  it  was  urged,  went  on  at  a 
snail's  pace,  disputes  multiplied,  and  papers  lay  for 
months  in  the  offices  of  prefects  or  commissions  with- 
out signature  or  consideration.  Spokesmen  for  the 
sinistres  affirmed  that  there  was  still  a  serious  lack  of 
houses,  that  building  material  was  difficult  to  obtain, 
that  the  railways  were  dilatory  and  government  agents 
indifferent.  Even  after  damages  had  been  evaluated 
and  the  whole  elaborate  dossier  of  records  made  com- 
plete, government  appropriation,  it  was  averred, 
covered  only  a  small  part  of  what  had  been  allotted 
and  payments  were  delayed.  Charges  of  incompe- 
tency, speculation,  graft,  and  collusion  filled  the  air 
and  found  an  echo  in  Parliament  and  in  the  press.  If 
the  complaints  were  to  be  taken  as  the  sole  basis  of 
judgment,  the  benefits  of  reconstruction  were  being 
reaped  chiefly  by  salaried  functionaries  and  rich  com- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    85 

mercial  or  industrial  organizations,  while  the  mass  of 
the  population  was  being  systematically  neglected. 

So  far  as  certain  formal  aspects  of  its  work  were 
concerned  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  is  not 
fairly  to  be  charged  with  neglect.  More  than  a  thou- 
sand circulars,  blanks,  instructions,  and  papers  of 
various  kinds  testify  to  its  ceaseless  activity  in  creating 
apparatus.  Elaborate  directions  for  the  procedure  of 
the  cantonal  commissions  and  the  tribunals  of  the 
arrondissements,  long  instructions  to  the  prefects  and 
ministerial  agents,  explanations  of  provisions  in  the 
law  of  war  damages  and  answers  to  questions  submitted 
for  decision,  approved  lists  of  architects  and  specimen 
forms  of  contracts,  price  lists  of  materials  for  sale, 
injunctions  to  commissions  and  agents  to  use  courtesy 
and  discretion  and  to  commissions,  agents,  and  sinistres 
to  make  haste,  proposed  laws  and  decrees  embodying 
needed  changes  in  previous  enactments,  blank  forms 
for  everybody:  these  documents  and  many  others, 
covering  apparently  every  point  that  the  work  of  re- 
construction could  raise  and  spread  broadcast  through- 
out the  liberated  regions,  are  tangible  evidence  that  the 
administrative  mill  was  grinding  even  though  the 
grinding  was  exceeding  slow. 

It  is  to  these  multitudinous  documents,  primarily 
designed  for  engineers,  architects,  contractors,  lawyers, 
and  property  owners,  that  one  must  go  for  an  under- 
standing of  the  practical  working  of  the  reconstruction 
policy.  Here  as  nowhere  else  is  to  be  read  the  story 
of  success  and  failure,  of  experiments  made  and  prob- 
lems solved,  of  difficulties  encountered  and  obstacles 
removed.    So  much  of  the  system  as  has  particularly 


86  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

to  do  with  finance  or  with  the  restoration  of  mines, 
factories,  railways,  and  agriculture  will  be  discussed  in 
later  chapters,  but  certain  features  of  a  general  charac- 
ter may  properly  be  considered  here.  The  question 
of  war  damages,  the  crux  of  the  system,  naturally  comes 
first  in  order. 

The  procedure  for  the  evaluation  of  war  damages 
as  laid  down  in  the  law  of  April  17,  1919,  and  the 
ministerial  instructions  relating  thereto  is  in  substance 
as  follows.  Immediately  upon  the  announcement  by 
the  prefect  that  a  cantonal  commission  has  been  or- 
ganized, the  sinistre  is  at  liberty  to  file  with  the  com- 
mission, or  with  the  mayor  or  prefect  if  he  so  prefers, 
a  statement  of  the  losses  which  he  has  sustained.  The 
statement,  in  the  preparation  of  which  the  assistance 
of  an  approved  architect  or  other  expert  will  probably 
have  been  invoked,  is  to  be  as  specific  as  possible  and 
must  show,  in  addition  to  the  estimate  of  losses,  any 
counter-claims  or  offsets  such  as  mortgages,  liens,  cus- 
tomary rights,  or  promises  of  sale.  Upon  the  presen- 
tation of  the  claim,  properly  certified,  the  sinistre,  if 
he  proposes  to  reemploy  his  indemnity  in  rebuilding, 
is  entitled  to  an  advance  payment  on  account  of  the 
total  indemnity  to  which  he  appears  to  be  entitled. 

The  amount  of  the  indemnity  which  the  law  accords 
depends  upon  whether  or  not  the  sinistre  proposes  to 
reemploy  his  indemnity  in  the  same  general  way  in 
which  the  original  property  was  employed,  either  in 
the  same  commune  or,  in  special  cases,  elsewhere  in 
the  invaded  area.  If  the  indemnity  is  not  to  be  re- 
employed— if,  that  is,  the  sinistre  proposes  to  take  his 
indemnity  and  use  it  as  he  pleases,  without  assurance 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    87 

that  the  money  will  be  employed  in  reestablishing  what 
has  been  destroyed — the  amount  of  the  indemnity  is 
limited  to  the  estimated  value  of  the  property,  allow- 
ance being  made  for  depreciation,  on  the  eve  of  mobi- 
lization in  1914.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  indemnity 
is  to  be  reemployed,  the  amount  is  increased  or  "sup- 
plemented" by  an  amount  representing  the  estimated 
cost  of  rebuilding  or  restoration  at  the  time  the  claim 
for  damages  is  allowed. 

In  order  to  make  possible  an  equitable  and  uniform 
treatment  of  sinistres  at  this  point,  elaborate  inquiries 
were  instituted  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  into  costs  of  material,  labor,  etc.,  in  1914. 
Similar  inquiries  were  made  for  the  period  following 
the  armistice.  In  practice,  accordingly,  the  amount  of 
the  indemnity  due  in  the  case  of  reemployment  was 
determined  by  multiplying  the  estimated  value  of  the 
property  in  1914  by  a  figure  representing  the  number 
of  times  which  building  or  other  costs  had  increased 
between  1914  and  the  date  of  the  award.  This  figure, 
known  technically  as  the  coefficient,  naturally  varied 
at  different  times,  for  different  materials,  and  for  the 
same  material  in  different  departments.  Until  the  end 
of  1920  the  coefficients  adopted  ranged  in  general  from 
3  to  6;  in  1921  they  declined  to  from  4  to  5  or  5.5.  The 
tables  of  values  prepared  by  the  technical  services  of 
the  ministry  were  not,  indeed,  binding  upon  the  can- 
tonal commissions  or  the  tribunals  of  the  arrondisse- 
ments,  or  upon  the  experts  whom  the  sinistre  might 
call  upon  to  assist  in  the  evaluation  of  his  losses,  but 
they  appear  to  have  been  generally  used. 

The  working  of  the  system  in  cases  in  which  the 


88  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

indemnity  was  not  to  be  reemployed  was  relatively 
simple,  since  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  establish 
the  value  of  the  property  in  1914  as  determined  by  the 
estimated  cost  of  rebuilding  at  that  time.  In  the  case 
of  furniture  and  personal  property  generally,  the  valu- 
ation for  the  purpose  of  indemnity  was  the  estimated 
cost  of  replacement  at  the  time  of  loss  or  injury.  The 
problem  became  more  complicated  in  the  case  of  in- 
tended reemployment.  If,  for  example,  the  sinistre 
proposed  to  rebuild  his  property  with  a  different  and 
more  expensive  material  or  on  a  larger  scale,  or  if  a 
part  only  of  the  indemnity  was  to  be  reemployed,  the 
calculations  must  take  account  of  all  the  various  dif- 
ferences in  cost.  Many  sinistres  began  rebuilding  be- 
fore their  damages  had  been  evaluated,  and  in  such 
cases  account  had  also  to  be  taken  of  the  work  already 
done.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  settlement  of  claims 
was  long  delayed  and  the  coefficients  of  reconstruction 
rose  during  the  interval,  the  sinistre  naturally  de- 
manded a  revaluation  for  the  purpose  of  recovering 
the  increase  in  cost;  while  if  in  the  interval  between 
the  first  advance  on  account  and  the  final  settlement 
the  coefficients  had  dropped,  the  cantonal  commissions 
were  prone  to  claim  for  the  state  the  benefit  of  the 
change.  The  function  of  the  commissions  was  limited 
to  the  establishment  of  the  facts  concerning  the  loss 
and  the  provisional  estimation  of  the  indemnity  due. 
The  commissions  were  also  to  do  their  best  to  reach  an 
amicable  agreement  with  the  sinistre  on  these  points 
in  case  their  judgment  was  questioned.  The  final  de- 
cision as  to  the  amount  of  the  indemnity,  however, 
rested  with  the  tribunal  of  the  arrondissement,  whose 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    89 

decision  was  conclusive  unless  an  appeal  on  legal 
grounds  was  taken  to  the  Council  of  State. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  government  could,  on 
the  whole,  have  adopted  a  better  plan.  War  damages 
could  not  properly  be  paid  without  evaluation,  the 
great  differences  between  costs  of  reconstruction  or 
replacement  in  1914  and  similar  costs  after  the  war 
were  certainly  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  and  pay- 
ment in  installments  was  the  only  method  financially 
possible.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  at  this  crucial  point 
the  reconstruction  policy  came  near  to  breaking  down. 
M.  Louis  Loucheur,  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions, 
in  an  address  at  Albert  on  April  24,  1921,  stated  that 
of  2,750,000  dossiers  embodying  the  claims  of  sinistres 
only  800,000  had  thus  far  been  adjudicated  by  the  can- 
tonal commissions;  and  while  he  professed  himself 
hopeful  that  the  task  would  be  completed  by  Decem- 
ber 31,  he  could  give  no  real  assurance  that  that  result 
would  be  attained  even  if  the  commissions  spurred 
themselves  to  the  maximum  of  effort.  Four  months 
later  he  could  hold  out  no  better  hope  than  that  the 
number  of  dossiers  remaining  to  be  examined  would 
be  reduced  to  800,000  at  the  end  of  the  year.1  In  other 
words,  about  one-third  of  the  claims  would  still  be 
awaiting  settlement  at  the  end  of  1921,  two  years  and 
nine  months  after  the  adoption  of  the  law  of  war 
damages. 

There  were  various  reasons  for  the  delay.  The  can- 
tonal commissions  were  not  always  promptly  organ- 
ized, not  all  were  competent  or  energetic,  and  the 
numerous  changes  of  procedure  instituted  by  laws  and 

lLe  Temps  (Paris),  August  10,  1921. 


90  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

decrees  entailed  hesitation,  confusion,  and  waste.  As 
late  as  August,  1921,  complaints  were  numerous  that 
the  evaluation  of  damages  for  agricultural  losses  was 
being  postponed,  and  that  all  the  dossiers  of  a  given 
sinistre  were  rarely  considered  at  the  same  session. 
Evaluations  made  before  the  adoption  of  the  law  of 
April  17,  1919,  were  subject  to  revision  after  that  date, 
at  the  demand  of  the  sinistre,  if  the  supplementary 
indemnity  was  still  to  be  reemployed.  The  sheer  mass 
of  papers  to  be  examined  swamped  commissions  and 
prefects  at  the  same  time  that  the  elaborate  formalities 
of  official  red  tape  cumbered  progress.  It  was  obvious 
enough  that  the  commissions  had  more  work  than 
they  could  keep  up  with,  but  it  was  also  obvious  that 
their  pace  was  neither  steady  nor  rapid. 

Efforts  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  remedy 
these  difficulties  were  not  lacking.  A  law  of  April  27, 
1920,  authorized  municipal  councils  to  form  communal 
syndicates  for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  localities  that  had  been  destroyed.  Another 
law  of  August  25  called  for  the  filing  of  all  demands 
for  indemnity  before  December  1  unless  such  action 
by  that  date  was  physically  impossible.  In  November 
the  government  itself  took  a  direct  hand  in  the  matter 
by  establishing  in  each  department,  under  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions,  an  administrative  service  of 
evaluation  to  instruct  and  direct  the  cantonal  com- 
missions and  the  tribunals  of  the  arrondissements,  with 
a  view  to  enabling  those  bodies  "to  proceed  promptly 
to  the  making  of  equitable  estimates  according  to 
rational  methods."  In  June,  1921,  a  service  of  inspec- 
tion for  the  commissions  and  the  tribunals  was  added 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    91 

and  additional  commissions  were  created  in  a  number 
of  cantons.1  It  is  a  fair  question  whether  so  much  of 
this  legislation  as  made  the  state  directly  a  party  to 
the  proceedings  of  the  commissions  and  tribunals  did 
not  violate  the  spirit  of  the  law  of  April  17,  1919, 
which  seems  clearly  to  have  intended  to  leave  both 
commissions  and  tribunals,  the  former  as  examining 
bodies  and  the  latter  as  courts,  free  to  perform  their 
duties  without  administrative  interference. 

A  more  commendable  step  was  the  creation  in  May, 
1921,  of  a  temporary  superior  commission  of  war  dam- 
ages for  the  adjudication  on  appeal  of  cases,  hitherto 
devolved  upon  the  Council  of  State,  referred  to  it  by 
the  tribunals  of  the  arrondissements  or  the  prefec- 
torial  councils.  The  commission  was  a  strong  body, 
comprising  in  its  membership,  in  addition  to  four 
members  of  the  Council  of  State  and  six  members  of 
higher  courts,  two  professors  of  the  Paris  law  faculty 
and  two  lawyers.  It  was  slow  in  getting  to  work,  how- 
ever, its  first  formal  session  not  being  held  until  Sep- 
tember 8  and  its  first  public  session  only  on  October  22. 

Not  all  of  the  responsibility  for  delay  is  to  be  laid 
upon  the  cantonal  commissions,  or  the  tribunals  of  war 
damages,  or  the  prefects,  or  the  ministry.  Many 
sinistres,  especially  among  the  peasants,  were  ignorant, 
unfamiliar  with  administrative  formalities,  and  often 
unable  of  themselves  to  prepare  the  estimates  and 
other  papers  required.  The  most  strenuous  efforts  on 
the  part  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  to 
explain  the  legal  requirements  in  simple  terms  and  to 

*An  eighth  commission  for  St.  Quentin  was  organized  in  May, 
1921,  and  a  third  for  Reims  in  August. 


92  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

bring  the  explanations  to  the  attention  of  everybody 
often  failed  to  secure  a  prompt  filing  of  papers  with 
the  cantonal  commissions,  or  to  induce  inattentive 
sinistres  who  had  taken  the  first  step  to  take  the  others 
which  were  necessary.  Many  sinistres  fancied  that 
they  had  fulfilled  all  of  the  requirements  when  they 
had  made  a  preliminary  declaration  of  their  losses; 
some  thought  that  the  demand  which  they  had  filled 
out  for  an  advance  payment  constituted  the  whole 
dossier  required;  still  others  interpreted  the  visit  of  a 
technical  expert  as  implying  an  evaluation  upon  which 
the  commission  would  base  its  decision.  The  difficul- 
ties of  evaluation  increased  where  buildings  had  been 
only  partially  destroyed,  or  where  rebuilding  had  al- 
ready been  begun  or  even  completed,  or  where  salvaged 
material  had  been  used  or  was  available,  or  where 
usable  material  had  been  stolen  or  carried  off  and 
could  not  be  traced,  or  where  experts  disagreed.  The 
allowance  by  the  law  of  war  damages,  of  an  interval  of 
two  years  from  the  end  of  the  war  as  the  limit  of  time 
for  filing  declarations  regarding  the  purpose  to  re- 
employ an  indemnity  was  a  further  cause  of  delay. 
Not  all  of  the  sinistres  were  honest,  and  inflated  claims 
for  damages  had  always  to  be  guarded  against. 

The  magnitude  of  the  task  and  the  difficulties  to  be 
overcome  in  performing  it  had  obviously  been  under- 
estimated. Beyond  a  certain  point,  and  that  a  point 
much  nearer  than  had  apparently  been  assumed,  the 
machinery  of  evaluation  could  not  be  speeded.  Never- 
theless the  total  of  accomplishment  was  considerable. 
Down  to  May  1,  1921,  there  had  been  deposited  with 
the  cantonal  commissions  2,785,164  demands  for  in- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    93 

demnity,  representing  estimated  actual  losses  of  34,- 
065,475,725  francs  and  indemnities  of  105,920,002,046 
francs.  Decisions  had  been  rendered  in  844,499  un- 
contested cases.  These  decisions  awarded  indemnities 
for  actual  losses  of  2,674,110,035  francs  as  against 
3,177,326,125  francs  demanded,  and  total  indemnities 
of  8,077,928,357  francs  as  against  8,571,926,325  francs 
demanded.  The  number  of  contested  cases  was  16,212, 
involving  allowances  of  53,809,947  francs  for  actual 
losses  in  place  of  94,480,087  francs  claimed,  and  total 
indemnities  of  157,936,358  francs  in  place  of  257,140,- 
595  francs  asked  for.  About  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
cases  filed  had  been  decided,  and  two  per  cent,  of  the 
decisions  had  been  contested.  The  indemnities  ac- 
corded, on  the  other  hand,  represented  only  a  little 
more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  total  claims.  In  the 
contested  cases  the  amount  accorded  by  the  commis- 
sions was  about  100,000,000  francs  less  than  the 
amount  claimed. 

In  addition  to  the  indemnities  for  war  losses,  the 
government  also  assumed  the  cost  of  clearing  ruins 
and  removing  debris.  The  magnitude  of  the  task  was 
appalling.  In  Armentieres,  for  example,  upwards  of 
100,000  wagon  loads  of  debris  had  eventually  to  be 
removed.  A  call  for  bids  for  a  part  of  this  work,  made 
in  January,  1920,  was  based  on  an  estimated  expendi- 
ture of  2,046,000  francs.  Provisional  estimates  of  the 
cost  of  clearing  in  eleven  other  communes  of  the  Lille 
arrondissement  ranged  from  51,000  to  625,000  francs, 
while  the  estimated  cost  of  a  single  section  in  Lille 
itself  was  983,000  francs.  Similar  estimates  for  a  group 
of   twenty-two   villages   near   Chalons-sur-Marne   in 


A 
94  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

January,  1921,  varied  from  30,000  to  1,135,000  francs; 
for  59  communes  in  the  Somme  at  the  end  of  October,, 
1921,  the  combined  estimate  was  6,929,000  francs. 
Brick  and  stone  that  could  be  used  for  rebuilding  were 
cleared  and  piled  on  the  property  to  which  they  be- 
longed, wood  was  sorted  for  lumber  or  fuel,  and  metal 
was  assembled  at  the  railway  for  sale  and  transporta- 
tion as  junk.  Of  the  remaining  material  some  was 
used  for  roads  and  some  for  concrete  construction,  but 
the  larger  part  was  carried  by  wagons,  trucks,  or  light 
railways  to  waste  places  and  dumped.  Salvaged  ma- 
terial was  the  property  of  the  state,  but  such  material 
as  could  be  used  for  rebuilding  was  ceded  to  the  sinistre 
if  the  indemnity  was  to  be  reemployed. 

An  organized  effort  to  solve  the  problem  of  provi- 
sional shelter  for  the  returned  population  was  made  by 
the  construction,  throughout  the  devastated  area,  of 
large  numbers  of  temporary  houses,  in  addition  to  uti- 
lizing such  abandoned  military  barraques,  shops,  and 
other  buildings  as  could  be  made  habitable.  These 
temporary  houses  were  of  various  kinds.  The  larger 
number  were  of  wood,  built  in  standard  sizes  with  two, 
three,  or  four  rooms  each.  Others  were  partly  of  wood 
but  with  roofs  of  tarred  paper,  canvas,  or  metal.  Still 
others  were  adaptations  of  the  famous  Nissen  huts, 
formed  of  three  curved  sections  of  corrugated  iron 
bolted  together,  closed  at  the  ends  with  wooden  frame- 
work, and  reenforced  in  some  cases  with  an  outer  layer 
of  brick  or  cement.  More  recently  houses  of  reenforced 
cement  or  concrete  have  been  introduced.  Temporary 
granges  and  stables  were  also  provided,  stable  and 
house  being  often  combined  under  one  roof  as  is  fre- 
quently the  case  in  French  agricultural  districts. 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    95 

The  provision  of  temporary  houses  was  naturally 
most  extensive  in  manufacturing  or  mining  centers. 
In  March,  1920,  for  example,  the  prefect  of  the  Nord 
called  for  bids  for  2,000  houses  of  various  types  at  Lille, 
Douai,  Cambrai,  Valenciennes,  and  Avesnes,  in  addi- 
tion to  400  at  places  to  be  determined  later.  In  July, 
1921,  bids  for  1,360  houses  in  the  regions  of  Marcoing, 
Cambrai,  Valenciennes,  Avesnes,  Haubourdin,  Armen- 
tieres,  Hazebrouck,  Bailleul,  and  Douai,  in  the  same 
department,  were  invited,  the  estimated  cost  being 
4,554,000  francs. 

In  some  cases  occupancy  of  these  temporary  houses 
was  free,  but  the  larger  number  of  houses  and  other 
buildings  were  rented,  or  sold  at  prices  substantially 
less  than  the  cost  of  construction.  In  the  department 
of  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  for  example,  a  circular  of 
March  1,  1921,  offered  for  sale  at  from  3,550  francs  to 
4,800  francs  wooden  houses  costing  from  6,000  to  8,500 
francs,  if  the  houses  were  to  be  occupied  by  the 
sinistres,  and  otherwise  at  cost.  The  rental  price  was 
fixed  at  two  per  cent,  or  five  per  cent,  respectively  of 
the  cost  price.  Farm  buildings  of  different  types, 
costing  from  4,050  to  8,500  francs,  were  sold  under 
similar  conditions  for  from  3,037  to  6,275  francs,  with 
rentals  at  two  or  five  per  cent,  as  in  the  case  of  houses. 
A  ministerial  circular  of  March  30  fixed  a  uniform 
valuation  for  all  the  departments  of  from  6,500  to 
10,200  francs  for  houses  of  from  two  to  four  rooms, 
1,450  to  6,200  francs  for  four  types  of  farm  buildings, 
and  other  prices  for  large  barraques  or  buildings  for 
special  purposes,  rentals  continuing  to  be  reckoned  at 
two  or  five  per  cent,  according  to  whether  the  building 
was  or  was  not  to  be  occupied  personally  by  the 


96  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

sinistre.  Wooden  buildings  of  standard  sizes,  deliv- 
ered in  demountable  condition  by  the  ministry,  were 
usually  subject  to  a  further  substantial  reduction  of 
the  estimated  value  in  case  the  sinistre  undertook  to 
put  the  sections  together. 

No  part  of  the  ministerial  policy  has  been  subjected 
to  more  severe  or  constant  criticism  in  the  press,  in 
Parliament,  and  in  the  invaded  departments  than  its 
housing  program.  It  has  been  charged  that  the  provi- 
sion of  temporary  houses  has  been  wholly  insufficient, 
thousands  of  families  in  the  devastated  area  being 
still  compelled  to  live  in  shacks,  or  dugouts,  or  dilapi- 
dated army  barraques,  or  in  a  room  or  two  of  a  ruined 
house  hastily  repaired.  The  wooden  and  iron  houses, 
it  is  alleged,  are  cold  in  winter  and  hot  in  summer, 
crowded  beyond  possibility  of  cleanliness  or  decency, 
and  sadly  lacking  in  water  supply  and  sanitary  facili- 
ties. It  is  averred  that  many  of  the  wooden  houses 
are  shabbily  built  and  soon  fall  out  of  repair,  and  that 
the  rentals  charged  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
accommodations  provided.  The  intimation  is  heard 
that  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  unable  to 
cope  with  the  housing  problem,  is  in  reality  willing 
that  the  temporary  structures  shall  continue  to  be 
occupied  indefinitely,  and  to  that  end  has  encouraged 
the  construction  of  semi-provisional  houses  or  houses 
of  durable  material.  Strong  objection  has  also  been 
voiced  to  the  policy  of  forcing  the  long-continued  occu- 
pancy of  wooden  or  slightly  built  concrete  houses 
upon  a  people  who  are  accustomed  only  to  solid  and 
permanent  buildings  of  brick  or  stone. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  housing  situation  is 
distressing.    Of  the  4,165,253  inhabitants  of  the  dev- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    97 

astated  zone  on  May  1,  1921,  252,603  were  living  in 
wooden  barraques,  82,717  in  houses  classed  as  semi- 
provisional,  159,214  in  provisional  houses  of  wood,  and 
103,553  in  provisional  houses  of  durable  material. 
Here  and  there  neat  fencing,  well-kept  gardens  and 
flower  beds,  fresh  paint,  and  dainty  curtains  at  the 
windows  testify  to  the  taste,  perhaps  also  to  the  pros- 
perity, of  the  occupants,  but  the  overwhelming  mass 
of  the  temporary  houses  are  unsightly  structures  void 
of  paint,  shabby  in  appearance,  destitute  of  even 
primitive  conveniences,  and  crowded  to  repletion  with 
the  men,  women,  and  children  for  whom  they  are  as 
yet  the  only  home.  The  situation  is  at  its  worst  in 
the  smaller  towns,  in  cities  which,  like  Albert,  were 
almost  completely  wrecked,  and  on  the  outskirts  of 
larger  cities  where  the  very  poor  have  congregated,  but 
it  is  bad  everywhere. 

Bad  as  it  is,  however,  it  is  better  than  it  was. 
Although  599,087  persons  in  the  devastated  zone  were 
on  May  1,  1921,  living  in  temporary  houses,  1,573,080 
were  at  the  same  date  living  in  houses  that  had  been 
repaired;  while  of  the  remaining  population  of  2,172,- 
167  far  the  larger  number  were  lodged  either  in  build- 
ings that  had  received  little  or  no  injury  or  in  new 
buildings  erected  on  new  sites.  The  replacement  of 
houses  totally  destroyed  had,  unfortunately,  made 
small  progress,  only  9,140  out  of  a  total  of  293,039 
having  been  replaced  at  the  date  named;  but  182,682 
houses  out  of  a  total  of  435,961  classed  as  seriously 
injured  had  been  provisionally  repaired.  Account  must 
also  be  taken  of  the  very  large  number  of  permanent 
houses  of  brick,  stone,  concrete,  or  cement,  running 
into  the  thousands  in  the  aggregate,  which  have  been 


98  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

erected  by  manufacturing  or  mining  corporations  and 
the  railways  for  the  use  of  their  employees.  The  fact 
that  rebuilding  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  settlement  of  claims  to  indemnity  for  war 
damages,  while  not  an  excuse  for  negligence  in  pro- 
viding temporary  shelter,  is  another  factor  in  the  prob- 
lem of  which  account  must  be  taken. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions  has  from  the  first  devoted  much  more 
time  and  energy  to  the  reconstruction  of  industrial 
establishments  than  it  has  given  to  the  reconstruction 
of  houses.  Severely  as  this  policy  has  been  criticized, 
and  distressing  as  have  been  its  consequences  in  per- 
sonal and  domestic  discomfort,  there  is  nevertheless 
something  to  be  said  in  its  defense.  Given  the  situa- 
tion which  obtained  in  the  invaded  departments  at  the 
close  of  hostilities,  housing  was  not  the  first  or  most 
important  consideration.  Before  material  of  any  kind 
could  be  gotten  into  or  out  of  the  region,  the  main  lines 
of  railway  and  the  main  highways  must  be  restored. 
Until  mines  and  factories  were  reestablished  there  could 
be  no  revival  of  industry,  no  employment  for  returning 
industrial  workers,  no  near-by  market  for  the  farmers. 
Before  the  farmer  could  safely  plow  his  field,  put  a 
spade  into  his  garden,  or  replant  his  orchard  or  vine- 
yard his  land  must  be  grubbed  over  for  unexploded 
shells  and  grenades,  barbed-wire  entanglements  lifted, 
trenches  and  shell  holes  filled  and  leveled,  and  the 
debris  of  war  removed.  It  was  inevitable,  it  would 
have  been  inevitable  even  if  money  in  unlimited 
amount  had  been  available,  that  under  these  circum- 
stances housing  should  wait  until  the  fundamental 
economic  life  of  the  devastated  regions  had  been  some- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  RECONSTRUCTION    99 

what  reestablished,  and  that  the  returning  population 
should  be  left  for  a  time  to  make  such  shift  as  it  could. 
Now  that  the  restoration  of  industry  and  agriculture 
is  well  advanced  and  the  restoration  of  transport  nearly- 
complete,  the  serious  problem  of  housing  need  no 
longer  be  neglected. 

The  following  figures,  compiled  to  May  1,  1921, 
show  in  various  other  directions  what  had  been  accom- 
plished and  what  remained  to  be  done. 

Of  the  population  of  4,690,183  found  in  the  devas- 
tated zone  in  1914,  4,165,253,  or  88  per  cent.,  had  re- 
turned.1 Municipal  life  had  been  resumed  in  all  but 
forty  of  the  3,256  communes  in  which  it  had  been 
suspended.  Public  instruction  had  been  resumed  in 
6,830  out  of  7,271  primary  schools,  in  74  out  of  79 
secondary  or  higher  schools,  and  in  all  of  the  23  com- 
mercial or  professional  schools.  Of  the  post  offices, 
1,284  out  of  1,292,  and  of  telephone  stations,  31,431  out 
of  34,716,  had  been  reopened  and  2,342  communes  had 
telegraphic  service. 

In  the  reconstitution  of  the  soil,  2,934,128  hectares 
had  been  cleared  of  explosives,  and  2,787,120  hectares 
were  free  of  explosives,  trenches,  and  barbed  wire. 
21,370,800  tons  of  munitions  had  been  destroyed,  239,- 
666,481  cubic  metres  of  trenches  out  of  333,000,000 
cubic  metres  had  been  rilled,  and  276,849,242  square 
metres  of  barbed  wire  entanglements  out  of  a  total  of 
373,000,000  square  metres  had  been  lifted.  Of  a  total 
of  29,851  wells  destroyed  and  91,257  injured,  52,017 
had  been  put  in  condition  and  4,249  had  been  con- 
structed. 

The  number  of  communes  in  which  boundary  lines 

*See  Appendix  D. 


100  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

had  required  reestablishment  was  1,637,  while  400 
communes  had  asked  for  some  readjustment  of  their 
territory  and  222  communes  had  requested  both  the 
readjustment  of  territory  and  the  relocation  of  bound- 
aries. In  843  communes  the  cadastral  plans1  had 
been  destroyed,  and  some  30,000  drawings  and  tracings 
were  required  by  the  work  of  replacement.  Of  the 
52,734  kilometres  of  highways  needing  restoration, 
13,481  kilometres  had  been  completed  and  the  re- 
mainder more  or  less  repaired.  In  addition  2,945 
bridges  had  been  temporarily  or  definitively  replaced. 

Never  in  history  have  a  people  and  their  government 
accomplished  so  great  a  task  in  so  short  a  time. 

The  provisions  of  the  law  of  war  damages  of  April, 
1919,  applied  to  the  French  colonies  and  protectorates 
as  well  as  to  the  pre-war  departments  of  France,  but 
the  conditions  under  which  the  application  was  to  be 
made  effective  were  left  for  later  determination.  In 
March,  1920,  the  law  became  operative,  with  certain 
necessary  changes  of  detail,  in  all  the  colonies  and  pro- 
tectorates except  Tunis  and  Morocco.  In  September 
its  principal  provisions  were  also  extended  to  the  three 
departments  of  the  Bas-Rhin,  Haut-Rhin,  and  Moselle 
which  had  been  formed  out  of  the  territory  recovered 
from  Germany  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  A  similar  ex- 
tension has,  in  general,  been  given  to  all  the  later 
important  modifications  which  the  law  of  1919  has 
undergone. 

irThe  cadastre  is  a  public  record  containing  drawings  and  details 
of  the  real  estate  of  a  commune,  and  used  for  purposes  of  taxation. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT 

The  restoration  of  transport  is  the  most  brilliant 
exploit  in  the  history  of  reconstruction  in  France. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case  the  railways  could  not 
withdraw  in  the  face  of  invasion,  and  while  rolling 
stock,  records,  and  personnel  were  evacuated  as  the 
German  armies  advanced,  the  roads  themselves  were 
under  obligation  to  continue  operations  to  the  fullest 
extent  possible  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the 
war.  At  the  end  of  the  war^  moreover,  they  were 
called  upon  to  handle  the  immense  volume  of  traffic 
due  to  demobilization  and  the  demands  of  general 
economic  reconstruction  at  the  very  moment  when 
they  must  also  begin  to  rebuild.  The  success  with 
which  the  two  railway  systems  which  serve  the  in- 
vaded area  coped  with  the  task  merits  the  highest 
praise.  In  spite  of  unparalleled  losses  in  rails,  road^ 
bed,  bridges,  tunnels,  stations,  and  equipment,  with 
the  material  that  remained  usable  after  the  war  worn 
to  the  limit  of  safety  by  unprecedented  usage,  and 
with  difficult  problems  of  credit,  labor,  and  engineering 
to  solve,  all  of  the  main  lines  and  branches  have  been 
restored,  most  of  the  local  lines  are  in  operation,  the 
replacement  of  stations  and  other  structures  is  well 
advanced,  freight  and  passenger  service  has  been  re- 

101 


<4Xj2,f;     ^RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

established  on  approximately  the  same  scale  as  before 
the  war,  and  schedules  of  departure  and  arrival  are 
generally  maintained.  In  addition  to  the  railways, 
most  of  the  canals  have  resumed  operations  and  most 
of  the  main  highways  have  been  restored  to  their  pre- 
war condition. 

The  railways  of  France  are  divided  for  administra- 
tive purposes  into  two  classes,  those  of  general  and 
those  of  local  interest.  Those  of  general  interest  are 
comprised  in  six  great  systems,  each  of  which  serves  in 
the  main  a  particular  section  of  the  country.  Of  these 
systems  two,  the  Nord  and  the  Est,  both  radiating 
from  Paris  toward  the  frontiers  of  Belgium,  Luxem- 
bourg, and  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  traverse  the  devas- 
tated departments,  and  are  consequently  the  only  ones 
that  will  be  particularly  dealt  with  here.  The  rail- 
ways of  local  interest  comprise  a  large  number  of  short 
lines,  some  of  standard  and  others  of  narrow  gauge, 
some  using  steam  and  others  electricity,  some  operated 
as  transportation  lines  pure  and  simple  and  others  as 
adjuncts  to  mining  or  manufacturing  enterprises. 
Taken  together,  the  general  and  local  lines  constitute  a 
network  which  covers  all  parts  of  the  invaded  area. 

Both  the  location  and  the  grouping  of  the  French 
railways  have  been  determined  by  military  as  well  as 
economic  considerations.  Long  before  the  war  of  1914 
an  elaborate  system  of  military  administration  and 
control  had  been  worked  out  which  embraced  every 
detail  of  operation  and  personnel.  Immediately  upon 
mobilization,  accordingly,  all  the  railway  systems  of 
the  country  passed  under  the  control  of  the  military 
authorities.    Two  zones  were  recognized,  that  of  the 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRA^SPGflT         iG3 

army  and  that  of  the  interior,  the  railways  of  the 
former  being  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
commander-in-chief  while  those  of  the  latter  were 
under  the  direction  of  the  Minister  of  War.  The  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  two  zones,  however,  was 
determined  by  military  events,  and  the  general  limits 
of  the  zones  accordingly  changed  repeatedly  as  the  war 
went  on. 

The  magnitude  of  the  task  which  devolved  upon  the 
government  in  the  matter  of  transport  led  eventually 
to  important  administrative  changes.  In  November, 
1916,  a  director-general  of  transport  was  appointed 
under  the  Ministry  of  War,  with  supervision  of  all 
matters  relating  to  transport  by  railways,  inland  water- 
ways, and  sea.  The  needs  of  commerce  and  industry 
as  well  as  those  of  the  army  dictated  the  change. 
Hardly  had  the  new  director-general  been  appointed, 
however,  when  he  was  replaced,  in  December,  by  an 
under-secretariat  of  state  for  transport,  with  a  juris- 
diction expanded  to  include  maritime  ports,  roads, 
automobiles,  railways  of  local  interest,  and  establish- 
ments using  water  power  or  distributing  electrical 
power.  In  May,  1917,  the  entire  civil  and  military 
personnel  employed  in  transport  was  also  placed  under 
the  general  control  of  this  under-secretariat.  So  much 
of  the  work  of  administration  as  fell  within  the  army 
zone  was  delegated  to  a  director,  but  the  general  au- 
thority remained  with  the  Ministry  of  War. 

In  September,  1917,  the  whole  system  of  control 
was  transferred  to  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport.  As  finally  reorganized  in  July,  1918,  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  ministry  embraced  not  only  trans- 


n 


m  &EC0NSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

port  by  rail,  rivers,  canals,  and  sea,  but  also  the  initia- 
tion of  new  transport  enterprises  and  the  maintenance 
and  reestablishment  of  traffic.  The  immediate  direc- 
tion of  military  transport  continued  to  rest,  by  delega- 
tion from  the  ministry,  with  a  director-general,  with 
whom  was  associated  a  commission  for  each  of  the 
main  railway  systems,  while  on  general  questions  the 
general  managers  (chefs  d' exploitation)  of  the  systems 
were  regularly  called  into  consultation.  The  decree 
of  February  2, 1919,  returning  to  the  railway  companies 
the  direction  of  their  lines,  did  not  alter  this  adminis- 
trative system  so  far  as  military  transport  was  con- 
cerned. The  railways  simply  came  again  under  the 
operation  of  a  law  of  1888  which  bound  them  to  give 
absolute  priority  to  the  transport  of  troops,  military 
supplies,  and  goods  of  public  necessity.  A  military 
representative  continued  to  direct  military  transport 
and  the  reconstruction  of  such  lines  as  the  army 
undertook  to  restore. 

For  the  railways  the  beginning  of  hostilities  was 
dramatic.  At  about  two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  31,  1914,  the  dispatch  of  trains  from  German 
territory  across  the  French  frontier  suddenly  ceased.1 
Telegraphic  inquiries  brought  the  reply  from  German 
officials  that  railway  service  between  the  two  countries 
had   been    definitively   suspended.     At   about   three 

1  The  data  which  follow  are  drawn,  unless  otherwise  indicated,  from 
the  Rapports  du  conseil  d' administration,  1915-1921,  of  the  Chemin 
de  Fer  de  l'Est;  M.  Peschaud,  Les  Chemins  de  fer  pendant  la 
guerre  1914-1918,  issued  as  a  special  number  of  the  Revue  Generate 
des  Chemins  de  Fer;  C.  Javary,  L' Effort  du  reseau  du  nord  pen- 
dant et  apres  la  guerre;  and  ML  Pellarin,  Destructions  operees  sur 
le  reseau  de  Vest  pendant  la  guerre  de  1914-1918.  I  am  also  in- 
debted to  M.  Javary  for  numerous  facts  regarding  the  Nord  system. 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        105 

o'clock  the  rails  and  telegraph  lines  near  the  frontier 
were  cut.  A  few  minutes  before  six  o'clock  the  Est 
company  received  orders  from  the  Minister  of  War  to 
prepare  to  move  covering  troops,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  next  four  days  302  troop  trains  were  sent  toward 
the  frontier.  Passenger  and  freight  service,  except 
local  freight,  continued,  but  the  Est  company  began 
the  withdrawal  of  its  rolling  stock,  including  124  loco- 
motives, from  exposed  points,  freight  cars  were  un- 
loaded, emergency  traffic  connections  were  arranged, 
and  the  system  was  put  upon  a  war  footing.  At  twenty 
minutes  past  four  on  the  afternoon  of  August  1  came 
the  order  for  mobilization,  to  take  effect  the  next  day. 
At  six  o'clock  all  time  schedules  were  suspended  and 
military  schedules  took  their  place. 

The  immensity  of  the  labor  which  now  devolved 
upon  the  railways  can  be  appreciated  only  through 
figures.  The  transportation  by  rail  of  the  effectives 
of  an  army  corps  required  an  average  of  80  trains  and 
4,000  cars.  In  the  twenty  days  which  intervened  be- 
tween mobilization  and  concentration  42  army  corps 
in  168,000  cars  were  moved  toward  the  front.1  This 
was  in  addition  to  the  provision  which  had  to  be  made 
for  the  transportation  of  men  to  their  various  places 
of  mobilization  and  for  the  movement  of  colonial 
troops  after  their  arrival  in  France.  Between  August  5 
and  August  21  the  Est  system  moved  4,064  trains  of 
troops  and  material,  the  maximum  effort  being  on 
August  9-11,  when  388,395  men  and  384  trains  were 
handled.  All  of  these  trains  reached  their  destinations 
on  time.    The  total  of  military  trains  of  all  kinds  for 

1  These  figures  cover  the  six  railway  systems. 


106  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  month  of  August  was  about  12,300.  While  this 
movement  was  going  on  civilians,  tourists,  and  for- 
eigners were  crowding  the  ordinary  trains  in  a  hurried 
flight  before  invasion,  and  some  40,000  foreign  work- 
men, chiefly  Italians,  were  transported  from  the  indus- 
trial and  mining  centers  of  Briey  and  Longwy  toward 
the  west  and  center  of  France. 

The  Nord  system  between  August  2  and  August  5 
handled  3,320  troop  trains  carrying  870,000  men,  19,- 
000  officers,  277,000  horses,  and  70,800  cannon,  cais- 
sons, and  wagons.  From  October  1  to  October  13  more 
than  1,271  troop  trains  were  moved.  The  Champagne 
offensive  in  the  fall  of  1915  called  for  more  than  2,000 
troop  trains;  yet  even  these  figures  were  surpassed 
during  the  battle  of  the  Somme,  in  1917,  when  the 
number  of  troop  trains  reached  6,768.  In  the  retreat  at 
Charleroi  in  August,  1914,  the  Nord  and  Est  systems 
handled  each  from  120  to  170  trains  a  day.  For  the 
defense  of  the  Belgian  border  and  the  control  of  access 
to  the  sea,  after  the  German  attack  at  Yser,  72  divi- 
sions in  6,000  trains  were  transported.  The  total  num- 
ber of  soldiers  carried  by  the  Nord  lines  in  the  course  of 
the  war  was  more  than  60,000,000. 

The  movement  of  food  and  hospital  trains  and  the 
transportation  of  officers  and  soldiers  on  leave  entailed 
labors  only  second  to  those  of  transporting  the  armies 
and  their  supplies.  Between  August  6  and  August  19, 
1914,  the  Nord  system  handled  more  than  1,000  food 
trains,  and  it  had  moved  more  than  60,000  trains  of 
food  and  munitions  by  the  end  of  1915.  In  1916  the 
food  trains  numbered  51,370,  in  1917  44,113,  and  in 
the  first  half  of  1918  22,292.    The  Est  system  moved 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        107 

5,287  food  trains  in  1914,  29,017  in  1915,  33,152  in 
1916,  28,006  in  1917  and  23,032  in  the  first  six  months 
of  1918.  The  smaller  figures  for  1917  and  1918  are 
accounted  for  by  changes  in  classification,  not  by  de- 
crease in  tonnage.  Hospital  trains,  each  comprising 
from  21  to  39  cars,  numbered  for  the  Nord  3,007  in 
1914,  17,006  in  1915,  and  from  15,000  to  15,800  for 
each  of  the  next  three  years.  The  Est  moved  792  such 
trains  in  1914,  10,736  in  1915,  and  an  average  of  7,122 
for  each  of  the  years  1916-1918.  The  number  of  trains 
exclusively  for  permissionnaires  rose,  on  the  Est  lines, 
from  3,750  in  1915  to  34,700  in  1917  and  30,600  in 
1918;  on  the  lines  of  the  Nord,  from  about  4,200  in 
1915  to  28,000  in  1917  and  18,800  in  1918. 

Precise  figures  showing  the  volume  of  railway  traffic 
involved  in  the  evacuation  of  the  civilian  population 
appear  to  be  lacking,  as  are  also  those  for  the  move- 
ment of  troops  during  the  period  of  demobilization. 
The  effort  of  the  Est  system  in  evacuating  civilians  and 
foreign  laborers  has  already  been  referred  to.  The 
Nord  system  in  ten  days  moved  toward  Paris  more 
than  1,500,000  persons  from  the  regions  served  by  its 
lines.  The  demobilization  of  the  French  forces  went 
on  at  the  rate  of  about  600,000  per  month.  To  this  is 
to  be  added  the  movement  of  American  and  British 
forces  to  their  ports  of  embarkation,  and  the  transport 
to  central  depots  of  vast  quantities  of  military  supplies 
from  the  war  zone. 

In  a  report  submitted  to  the  President  of  the  Repub- 
lic on  March  13,  1919,  the  Minister  of  Public  Works 
and  Transport,  A.  Claveille,  summarized  the  losses 
which  the  railways  had  sustained.    On  the  Nord  and 


108  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  Est  systems  taken  together  2,901  kilometres  of 
double  track  and  5,600  kilometres  of  single  track  had 
been  either  destroyed  or  injured.  The  figures  repre- 
sented about  one-third  of  the  total  mileage  operated  in 
1913.  A  similar  fate  had  befallen  1,510  bridges,  12 
tunnels,  590  buildings,  and  150  storehouses.  The  re- 
pair shops  of  the  Nord  at  Hellemmes,  near  Lille,  had 
been  stripped  of  tools  and  machinery,  and  the  shops  at 
Tergnier,  Lens,  Amiens,  Epernay,  Roye,  and  Mohon 
had  been  rendered  useless  either  permanently  or  for  a 
long  period.  All  of  the  locomotive  roundhouses  in 
the  zone  of  German  occupation  were  wholly  or  par- 
tially in  ruins.  The  entire  system  of  signals  had  dis- 
appeared, all  the  switch  towers  required  reconstruction, 
and  telephone  and  telegraph  wires  were  a  mass  of 
debris. 

Of  the  two  systems,  that  of  the  Nord  suffered  the 
most.  Practically  all  of  the  bridges,  viaducts,  tunnels, 
and  towers  were  in  ruins.  Not  only  were  superstruc- 
tures wrecked  or  demolished,  but  foundations  of  all 
kinds  were  loosened  or  destroyed  by  the  systematic  use 
of  explosives.  To  the  debris  of  ruined  bridges  and  via- 
ducts which  cumbered  streams  and  valleys  had  in  some 
cases  been  added  locomotives  and  cars,  thrown  into  the 
wreckage  after  the  explosion  or  carried  down  with  the 
structure  when  it  collapsed.  Of  many  stations  hardly 
anything  was  left  standing.  A  mass  of  tangled  metal 
marked  the  site  of  the  station  at  Lens,  the  station  at 
Montdidier  was  swept  clean,  a  few  feet  of  covered 
platform  were  all  that  survived  at  Noyon,  a  fragment 
of  ruined  wall  was  the  only  part  left  standing  at  Laon, 
and  the  large  train  shed  of  steel  and  glass  at  Valen- 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        109 

ciennes  was  badly  torn  and  the  interior  of  the  station 
wrecked.  Great  sections  of  railway  had  been  blown 
out  or  torn  to  pieces,  rails  twisted,  ties  burned,  switches 
destroyed  or  rendered  useless,  and  wrecked  locomotives 
and  cars  scattered  over  the  lines.  Tunnels  had  their 
entrances  closed  and  sections  of  their  roofs  destroyed 
by  explosives,  water  tanks  were  gone,  and  terminals 
were  in  ruins.  The  losses  of  the  system  included  8 
large  viaducts,  811  bridges  large  and  small,  not  count- 
ing culverts,  5  tunnels,  583  kilometres  of  double  track, 
529  kilometres  of  single  track,  some  thousands  of  kilo- 
metres of  switches  and  secondary  lines,  338  stations, 
and  115  water  tanks.1 

Numerous  bridges  on  the  Est  system  were  destroyed 
by  the  French  forces  in  1914,  with  the  object  of  im- 
peding the  German  advance.  The  foundations  of  the 
structures  were  not  injured,  however,  and  the  neces- 
sary replacements  were  easily  effected  by  the  Germans 
and  later,  in  some  cases,  by  the  railway  company  itself. 
The  more  serious  losses  came  after  the  battle  of  the 
Marne.  Of  a  total  of  5,027  kilometres  in  the  Est  sys- 
tem, an  average  of  only  3,800  kilometres  was  operated 
from  1915  to  1918.  The  losses  to  track  included  310 
kilometres  of  single  track  destroyed  or  displaced,  and 
1,475  kilometres  of  single  track  injured  either  system- 
atically or  as  a  result  of  shell  fire.  The  roadbed  was 
extensively  injured  by  the  construction  of  trenches, 
shelters,  and  barbed  wire  obstructions,  by  bombard- 
ment, and  by  exploding  mines,  the  latter  leaving  cra- 
ters measuring  in  some  instances  from  ten  to  twenty 
metres  in  diameter.     262  covered  passageways  had 

*M.  Javary,  UEffort  du  Reseau  du  Nord}  89. 


110  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

their  walls  or  roofs  broken  down  or  their  foundations 
undermined.  Of  the  tunnels,  eight  were  destroyed,  and 
two  which  had  been  repaired  by  the  Germans  accom- 
modated only  a  single  track  and  had  to  be  rebuilt.  At 
Perthes,  near  Rethel,  more  than  70,000  cubic  metres 
of  debris  had  to  be  removed  before  the  portions  of  the 
tunnel  roof  which  remained  could  be  reached ;  while  at 
Maure,  near  Challerange,  the  quantity  of  debris  to  be 
removed  was  estimated  at  from  175,000  to  200,000 
cubic  metres.  The  rails  had  completely  disappeared 
from  thirty  kilometres  of  line  between  Reims  and 
Laon  (a  total  distance  of  52  kilometres),  20  kilometres 
of  the  line  between  Reims  and  Charleville  (a  total 
distance  of  88  kilometres),  20  kilometres  of  the  line 
between  Bazancourt,  near  Reims,  and  Challerange  (a 
total  distance  of  53  kilometres),  and  on  many  kilo- 
metres of  the  lines  between  Verdun  and  Sedan,  Nancy 
and  Metz,  Nancy  and  Chateau-Salins,  and  the  line 
from  Paris  to  Strasbourg.  Switches  and  signals,  with 
all  their  appliances  and  connections,  had  almost  every- 
where disappeared,  water  tanks  had  been  blown  up, 
shattered,  or  overthrown,  and  nearly  all  of  the  hy- 
draulic cranes  were  gone. 

Freight  and  passenger  stations  on  the  Est  system  had 
either  been  leveled  with  the  ground  or  badly  damaged, 
and  about  150  houses  for  watchmen  or  crossing  tenders 
had  been  annihilated.  The  houses  and  living  quarters 
provided  for  employees  of  the  company  at  Baroncourt, 
Andun,  and  Conflans  had  been  rendered  uninhabitable, 
storehouses  at  Reims,  Verdun,  and  Amagne  had  been 
wholly  or  in  part  destroyed,  and  the  large  locomotive 
works  at  fipernay  had  suffered  from  aerial  bombard- 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        111 

ment.  Telegraph  and  telephone  lines  were  in  ruins, 
and  tools,  machinery,  furnishings,  and  movable  prop- 
erty of  all  kinds  had  been  destroyed  or  removed.  The 
loss  of  some  12,000  freight  cars  which  passed  into 
German  hands  was  in  part  made  good  by  an  allotment 
of  cars  supplied  from  English  railways. 

The  cost  of  restoring  the  Est  system  to  its  pre-war 
condition  was  estimated  in  1919  at  350,000,000  francs 
for  roadway  and  buildings,  210,000,000  francs  for  roll- 
ing stock,  furnishings,  tools,  and  supplies,  and  80,000,- 
000  francs  for  other  expenses:  a  total  of  640,000,000 
francs.  Revised  estimates  in  1920  raised  these  figures 
to  360,000,000  francs  for  roadway  and  structures,  437,- 
000,000  francs  for  rolling  stock,  etc.,  and  319,000,000 
francs  for  other  expenses:  a  total  of  1,116,000,000 
francs.  Increased  cost  of  labor  and  material  later 
swelled  the  estimate  for  roadway  and  structures  to 
470,000,000  francs,  at  the  same  time  that  the  estimates 
under  the  other  two  heads  declined  to  390,000,000 
francs  and  300,000,000  francs  respectively.  The  total 
estimated  cost  of  replacement,  however,  rose  to  1,160,- 
000,000  francs. 

The  work  of  reconstructing  the  railways,  never  dis- 
continued even  while  the  war  was  going  on,  was  pushed 
with  amazing  rapidity  as  soon  as  the  war  pressure  was 
relieved.  On  October  27,  1918,  two  weeks  before  the 
armistice,  a  passenger  train  from  Calais  on  the  Nord 
system  reached  St.  Andre,  in  the  suburbs  of  Lille. 
Twelve  hours  had  been  required  for  a  journey  which 
now  consumes  two  or  three,  but  the  line  was  open.  St. 
Quentin  welcomed  its  first  pasenger  train  on  November 
28,  and  by  the  end  of  December  trains  were  running  to 


^ 


112  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Cambrai,  Douai,  and  Valenciennes.  On  New  Year's 
day,  1919,  the  first  passenger  train  made  its  triumphal 
entry  into  the  central  station  at  Lille.  A  law  on  Jan- 
uary 10  authorized  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport  to  take  such  steps  as  might  be  necessary  to 
restore  all  railway  lines  to  a  condition  equivalent  to 
that  which  they  had  on  January  1,  1914,  a  credit  of 
600,000,000  francs  being  opened  for  the  purpose.  By 
the  middle  of  February,  three  months  after  the  armi- 
stice, 595  kilometres  of  the  Nord  system  in  the  invaded 
area  were  provisionally  in  operation ;  by  the  middle  of 
March  532  kilometres  had  been  added. 

The  bridge  over  the  Scarpe  river  at  d'Athies,  be- 
tween Arras  and  Lens,  had  been  breached  by  explosion 
to  a  width  of  58  metres  and  its  two  supporting  piers 
had  been  destroyed.  The  work  of  rebuilding  the  bridge 
in  concrete  was  begun  on  November  15,  1918,  and  was 
completed  in  sixty  days.  The  long  viaduct  at  St. 
Benin,  near  Cateau,  on  the  line  from  Paris  to  Liege, 
had  had  175  metres  of  its  length  blown  out;  at  the  end 
of  August,  1919,  after  four  months  of  labor  and  the 
removal  of  16,000  cubic  metres  of  ruined  masonry,  the 
viaduct  was  restored.  The  viaduct  at  Blangy,  near 
Hirson,  had  been  destroyed  by  the  French  in  1914, 
rebuilt  in  steel  and  concrete  by  the  Germans,  and 
again  destroyed  when  the  Germans  retired.  The  prob- 
lem of  reconstruction  here  was  rendered  difficult  by  the 
necessity  of  removing  huge  masses  of  masonry  and 
metal,  but  at  the  end  of  August,  1919,  the  viaduct  was 
ready  for  use.  The  long  tunnel  at  Vauxaillon,  between 
Soissons  and  Laon,  was  destroyed  at  both  heads  and  in 
the  middle  by  the  Germans  during  their  retreat  in 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        113 

1917.  It  had  been  largely  reconstructed  by  the  railway 
company  when  in  March,  1918,  the  Germans  again 
advanced.  The  Laon  head  was  then  destroyed  by  the 
French,  but  the  Germans  repaired  it,  only  to  destroy  it 
again,  together  with  the  Soissons  head,  when  they 
finally  withdrew.  The  work  of  reconstruction  was  im- 
peded by  severe  weather  and  by  the  torn  state  of  the 
ground  in  consequence  of  repeated  explosions,  but  on 
May  15,  1919,  less  than  six  months  after  the  armistice, 
service  through  the  tunnel  was  resumed. 

On  September  15,  1919,  the  Minister  of  Public 
Works  and  Transport  was  able  to  report  that  of  a  total 
of  583  kilometres  of  double  track  and  529  kilometres 
of  single-track  line  on  the  Nord  system  requiring  re- 
construction at  the  date  of  the  armistice,  577  kilo- 
metres of  double  track  and  all  of  the  single-track  lines 
had  been  put  in  condition  by  September  1.  At  the 
same  date  all  but  four  of  the  333  destroyed  or  damaged 
stations  had  been  replaced  with  provisional  or  perma- 
nent structures.  The  structures  other  than  stations 
and  culverts  injured  or  destroyed  numbered  816,  of 
which  269  were  small  works  of  masonry,  352  small 
works  with  metal  roofs,  210  large  structures,  and  five 
tunnels.  Of  these,  204  small  structures  and  two  tun- 
nels had  been  completed,  269  small  and  three  large 
structures  and  two  tunnels  were  in  course  of  recon- 
struction, one  long  viaduct  {St.  Benin)  was  in  use,  and 
three  other  viaducts  of  213,  98,  and  119  metres  respec- 
tively in  length  would  be  completed  by  September  15. 

On  October  1  only  a  single  kilometre  of  double-track 
line  on  the  Nord  system  remained  to  be  rebuilt,  and 
all  but  43.9  kilometres  of  the  system  were  in  operation. 


114  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Two  additional  stations  had  been  built,  39  other  struc- 
tures were  in  process  of  restoration,  and  only  two 
tunnels  remained  to  be  cleared.  On  November  1  only 
15  kilometres  of  double  track  and  12  kilometres  of 
single-track  line,  made  up  of  short  sections  in  which 
bridges  or  other  structures  were  being  restored,  re- 
mained to  be  operated;  all  the  stations  had  been 
reopened,  49  additional  structures  had  been  completed, 
the  number  of  bridges  to  be  replaced  had  been  reduced 
from  601  to  347,  while  of  the  five  tunnels  only  one 
remained  to  be  cleared.1 

The  reconstruction  of  the  Est  system,  while  less 
rapid,  was  hardly  less  remarkable.  Of  the  930  kilo- 
metres of  double  track  and  201  kilometres  of  single- 
track  line  out  of  use  at  the  time  of  the  armistice,  789 
kilometres  of  double  track  and  152  kilometres  of  single 
track  had  been  restored  to  use  on  September  1,  1919. 
All  but  29  of  the  destroyed  stations  had  been  replaced 
permanently  or  temporarily.  The  structures  other 
than  stations  destroyed  numbered  367 ;  of  this  number 
1  viaduct,  9  bridges,  and  13  other  structures  had 
been  restored.  On  October  1  the  number  of  kilometres 
of  double  track  in  operation  had  risen  to  848,  the 
number  of  kilometres  of  single  track  to  159,  five  addi- 
tional stations  had  been  opened,  and  13  bridges  and 
17  other  structures  had  been  replaced.  The  report  of 
the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and  Transport  on  No- 
vember 1  showed  all  but  94  kilometres  of  double  track 
and   7  kilometres  of  single  track   in   operation,   all 

*The  reports  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Works  and  Transport  for 
September  15,  October  3,  and  November  1,  1919,  are  reprinted  in  the 
Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberees  for  September  29,  October  27,  and 
November  17. 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        115 

but  two  of  the  stations  replaced,  46  out  of  214  bridges 
rebuilt,  and  five  tunnels  available  for  single-track  use. 
The  bridge  across  the  Marne  at  Chateau-Thierry  was 
completed  in  April,  1920,  and  three  bridges  across  the 
Aisne  and  nine  across  the  Meuse  had  been  replaced. 

These  are  impressive  results,  but  they  are  neverthe- 
less far  from  telling  the  whole  story.  Neither  the  Nord 
nor  the  Est  system  was  content  to  restore  its  property 
to  the  condition  in  which  jt  had  been  before  the  war; 
they  also  planned  for  the  future.  Those  who  directed 
the  construction  foresaw  that  in  the  industrial  rehabili- 
tation of  the  invaded  departments  factories  would  be 
enlarged  and  improved,  the  output  of  the  mines  in- 
creased, and  the  volume  of  traffic  of  all  kinds,  both 
within  the  borders  of  France  and  between  France,  Bel- 
gium, Luxembourg,  and  Germany,  greatly  augmented. 
To  care  for  this  anticipated  increase  meant  larger  and 
better  equipment,  improved  terminal  facilities,  and 
more  adequate  arrangements  at  frontier  points  for  the 
exchange  of  traffic  with  foreign  lines.  The  railways 
had  also  to  consider  the  readjustment  of  working  con- 
ditions due  to  the  application  of  an  eight-hour  law  for 
employees. 

The  policy  of  the  Nord  company  is  especially  inter- 
esting at  this  point.  Before  the  war  the  Nord,  although 
not  the  largest,  was  perhaps  the  best  equipped  and 
best  administered  railway  in  France.  In  traffic  re- 
sources it  was  peculiarly  rich,  its  lines  serving  the 
mining  and  manufacturing  districts  of  the  Nord  and 
Pas-de-Calais  departments  and  the  Channel  ports  of 
Boulogne-sur-Mer,  Calais,  and  Dunkerque,  and  at  the 
same  time  affording  the  most  direct  communication 


116  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

with  Brussels,  Amsterdam,  Hamburg,  and  northwest- 
ern Germany. 

As  soon  as  the  principles  upon  which  indemnities  for 
war  losses  were  to  be  paid  had  been  determined,  an 
understanding  was  reached  with  the  government  re- 
garding reconstruction.  The  government  undertook  to 
repay  the  actual  losses  on  the  basis  of  values  in  1914, 
plus  the  cost  of  replacement,  but  with  the  understand- 
ing that  the  company  was  to  be  left  free  to  rebuild  its 
system  with  a  view  to  the  needs  of  future  traffic.  Fur- 
ther to  facilitate  this  arrangement,  the  credits  voted  in 
payment  of  indemnities  were  carried  in  a  special  ac- 
count separate  from  the  annual  budgets,  any  additional 
cost  due  to  expansion  being  borne  by  the  company 
itself.  The  system  of  separate  accounting  applied  also 
to  the  Est  properties. 

The  next  step  was  to  enlarge  the  land  holdings  of 
the  company.  At  all  important  points  extensive  pur- 
chases of  adjoining  properties  were  made,  the  sinistres 
being  relieved,  by  direct  sale,  of  further  controversies 
with  the  cantonal  commissions.  The  acquisitions  were 
large  enough  to  permit  of  the  rearrangement  and  en- 
largement of  tracks,  yards,  stations,  and  general  termi- 
nal facilities  sufficient  for  the  probable  needs  of  from 
fifteen  to  thirty  years.  Some  important  changes  in 
location  were  also  made,  the  most  notable  of  these 
changes  being  at  Lille,  the  principal  railway  center  of 
northern  France.  Before  the  war  all  the  freight  traffic 
of  Lille,  whether  from  the  south,  the  east,  the  north,  or 
the  west,  was  handled  in  a  confined  space  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  city.  In  the  process  of  reconstruc- 
tion the  entire  freight  service  was  transferred  bodily  to 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        117 

a  large  and  much  more  convenient  site  west  of  the 
city,  where  the  terminal  facilities  installed  are  now 
perhaps  the  best  to  be  found  anywhere  in  Europe,  and 
where  the  opportunity  for  expansion  is  practically  un- 
limited. Similar  changes,  less  radical  and  imposing 
but  with  equal  prevision  of  the  future,  were  made  at 
other  important  points. 

In  the  matter  of  houses  for  its  employees  the  Nord 
company  has  shown  both  energy  and  thoughtfulness. 
Some  thousands  of  permanent  houses  of  attractive  and 
varied  design,  solidly  built  of  brick,  stone,  or  cement 
and  equipped  with  modern  sanitary  facilities,  have 
been  erected  at  Lille,  Lens,  Arras,  Amiens,  Compiegne, 
Cambrai,  Laon,  Hirson,  Soissons,  and  other  points,  and 
more  are  under  construction.  One  of  the  largest  quar- 
ters (cite)  is  at  Lille,  where  an  extensive  village  has 
been  constructed  to  the  west  of  the  new  freight  termi- 
nal, again  with  ample  opportunity  for  growth.  The 
employees'  quarter  at  Laon  is  also  extensive.  In  addi- 
tion, the  living  quarters  which  are  incorporated  in  most 
of  the  new  railway  stations  are  larger  and  better  than 
those  which  the  war  swept  away,  not  to  mention 
the  improved  artistic  appearance  of  the  new  stations 
themselves. 

An  inspection  of  the  main  lines  and  more  important 
branches  of  the  Nord  and  Est  systems  in  the  summer 
and  fall  of  1921  showed  highly  satisfactory  conditions. 
Far  the  larger  portion  of  the  lines  is  stone  ballasted, 
rails  are  heavy,  and  switches  and  signaling  apparatus 
complete.  Provisional  ballasting  was  being  replaced 
by  permanent  work,  and  temporary  bridges  were  giv- 
ing way  rapidly  to  permanent  structures  of  steel,  con- 


118  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

crete,  and  stone.  A  very  large  amount  of  work  in  track- 
laying,  surfacing,  and  general  cleaning  up  was  in  prog- 
ress at  terminals  and  junction  points;  freight  sheds, 
platforms,  and  roundhouses  were  being  built,  numerous 
cranes,  both  traveling  and  stationary,  had  been  placed, 
and  many  new  concrete  water  tanks  were  in  use.  Many 
of  the  passenger  stations  are  still  temporary  structures, 
but  all  of  the  larger  stations  that  were  capable  of  repair 
have  either  been  put  in  usable  condition  or  are  in 
process  of  restoration,  and  scores  of  new  stations  have 
been  erected.  The  new  stations,  many  of  them  in  con- 
crete or  cement,  embody  attractive  design  and  im- 
proved facilities  for  personnel,  passengers,  and  lug- 
gage. A  number  of  well-appointed  railway  hotels  are 
in  operation,  and  restaurant  and  buffet  service  has  been 
generally  reestablished.  Scores  of  attractive  houses 
for  crossing  tenders  have  also  been  erected  and  tele- 
phone stations  restored.  Through  express  service  with 
sleeping  and  dining  cars  has  been  everywhere  reestab- 
lished, and  while  passenger  coaches,  especially  those  of 
the  third  class,  are  generally  inferior  and  trains  badly 
overcrowded,  gratifying  progress  is  being  made  in  the 
introduction  of  large  corridor  coaches  of  all  classes  and 
more  powerful  locomotives. 

Of  the  numerous  railways  classed  as  lines  of  local 
interest  2,385  kilometres  were  injured  or  destroyed, 
467  bridges  or  other  structures  were  ruined,  and  439 
bridges  or  structures  injured.  The  work  of  restoration 
naturally  made  much  slower  progress  here  than  upon 
the  large  systems,  partly  because  capital  was  lacking, 
partly  because  the  numerous  companies  involved  could 
not  well  combine  in  a  common  program,  and  partly 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        119 

because  the  reconstruction  of  main  lines  was  a  neces- 
sary preliminary  to  obtaining  material  for  the  small 
ones.  In  August,  1919,  the  supervision  of  the  under- 
taking was  attached  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  and  intrusted  to  the  directors-general  of  the 
ministry  in  the  several  departments,  these  officials 
being  themselves  immediately  responsible,  it  will  be 
remembered,  to  the  prefects.  By  May  1,  1921,  773 
kilometres  of  line  had  been  completely  restored,  1,247 
kilometres  had  been  more  or  less  repaired,  191  bridges 
had  been  provisionally  reconstructed,  and  the  restora- 
tion of  333  bridges  was  complete.  On  June  13,  1921, 
the  further  direction  of  reconstruction  was  transferred 
to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works. 

A  special  interest  attached  to  the  hundreds  of  kilo- 
metres of  light  railway  which  had  been  laid  down  for 
military  purposes  in  every  part  of  the  invaded  area.  It 
was  evident  that  large  numbers  of  these  lines,  placed 
as  they  had  been  for  military  uses  only  without  regard 
either  to  private  property  or  to  the  convenience  of  the 
civil  population,  had  only  to  be  removed.  Many  of 
the  lines,  on  the  other  hand,  were  obviously  useful  for 
the  transport  of  material  for  reconstruction,  the  re- 
moval of  debris,  and  the  maintenance  of  local  connec- 
tions with  the  main  railway  systems.  They  offered,  in 
short,  a  supplementary  means  of  transport  of  which 
advantage  ought  to  be  taken. 

In  February,  1919,  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  was  accorded  by  the  military  authorities  the 
control  of  some  of  the  most  important  of  these  lines. 
A  special  operating  force  was  organized,  wagons,  loco- 
motives, and  tractors  were  purchased  or  taken  over 


120  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

from  the  army,  and  the  exploitation  of  the  lines  was 
systematically  begun.  For  purposes  of  operation  the 
lines  were  presently  grouped  in  six  systems — Com- 
piegne,  St.  Quentin,  Laon-Soissons,  Chalons-Reims, 
Verdun,  and  Vouziers.  A  local  system  was  also  organ- 
ized at  Reims.  Lines  were  relocated  and  rebuilt,  con- 
nections established  with  railways  and  canals,  and  a 
regular  service  for  passengers  and  freight  inaugurated. 
By  August  31,  1919,  1,525  kilometres  of  light  railway 
were  in  operation,  230  locomotives  and  tractors  and 
3,346  cars  were  available,  and  the  freight  tonnage  for 
the  month  of  August  had  reached  230,915  tons.  In 
October,  1921,  four  lines  of  standard  gauge  and  eleven 
lines  of  narrow  gauge  connecting  with  the  Nord  sys- 
tem, and  seven  narrow-gauge  lines  in  the  system  of  the 
Est,  were  being  operated  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions. 

The  war  destroyed  or  rendered  useless  1,036  kilo- 
metres of  canals  and  navigable  waterways,  together 
with  1,120  bridges,  locks,  or  other  structures.  The 
heaviest  losses  were  in  the  departments  of  the  Nord 
and  the  Pas-de-Calais,  where  750  kilometres  were  put 
out  of  use,  and  in  the  Ardennes,  where  179.5  kilometres 
were  destroyed.  By  the  middle  of  September  commu- 
nication between  Belgium  and  Paris  had  been  re- 
opened, and  the  larger  part  of  the  system  of  inland 
waterways  which  connects  Paris  and  Dunkerque  was 
available.  Traffic  by  river  and  canal  between  Paris 
and  the  northeastern  departments  had  been  resumed, 
and  coal  from  the  Saar  and  Ruhr  basins  was  moving 
into  France  by  this  route.  By  October  from  twenty  to 
thirty  boats  a  day  were  moving  through  the  Marne- 
Rhine  canal,  the  connection  between  Paris  and  the 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  TRANSPORT        121 

Nord  and  Pas-de-Calais  had  been  completed,  and  coal 
from  the  Charleroi  region  had  begun  to  move  toward 
Paris.  By  November  1  only  100  kilometres  of  water- 
ways remained  to  be  cleared  of  obstructions,  rebuilt, 
and  dredged.  On  May  1,  1921,  all  but  72  kilometres  of 
navigable  waterways,  of  which  52  kilometres  were  in 
the  Ardennes,  had  been  restored.  A  few  short  sections 
of  canal  which  were  ready  for  use  were  not  actually  in 
operation  in  1921  because  of  the  extraordinary  drought 
which  prevailed  during  that  year.  A  new  step  of  great 
importance  is  the  proposed  electrification  of  large  parts 
of  the  inland  waterway  system,  and  the  work  of  in- 
stallation has  already  been  begun. 

The  restoration  of  highways,  of  which  52,734  kilo- 
metres needed  to  be  repaired,  has  not  kept  pace  with 
the  reconstruction  of  railways  and  waterways,  but 
there  has  nevertheless  been  substantial  progress.  By 
May  1,  1921,  13,481  kilometres  of  road  had  been  put  in 
condition  and  30,114  kilometres  had  been  more  or  less 
repaired.  The  number  of  bridges  permanently  or  tem- 
porarily repaired,  in  the  former  case  often  with  marked 
improvements  in  plan  or  construction,  was  2,945  out 
of  a  total  of.  3-^220  which  had  to  be  restored.  Nearly 
5,000,000  tons  of  material  had  been  used  in  road  and 
bridge  work  since  the  armistice. 

The  strenuous  and  unparalleled  labors  of  three  years 
can  be  summed  up  in  a  single  sentence.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  the  highways,  the  transport  system  of  dev- 
astated France  has  been  practically  restored.  Some 
provisional  work  has  yet  to  be  replaced  by  permanent 
construction  and  the  final  touches  of  beautification 
have  yet  to  be  added,  but  traffic  of  all  kinds  is  moving 
substantially  as  before  the  war. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  RECONSTRUCTION   OF  INDUSTRY 

It  will  probably  not  have  escaped  notice  that  in  the 
account  just  given  of  the  restoration  of  the  Nord  and 
Est  railway  systems,  administrative  control  by  the 
government  plays  an  almost  inappreciable  part.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  government  administration  had  very 
little  to  do  with  the  process.  Aside  from  financial  aid 
and  the  assurance  of  the  ultimate  reimbursement  of 
their  war  losses,  the  arrangements  made  with  the  gov- 
ernment left  the  railways  practically  to  themselves. 
They  found  their  own  working  capital,  outside  of  gov- 
ernment payments,  by  contracting  new  loans  and 
drawing  upon  their  reserve  funds.  They  assembled 
and  distributed  their  own  labor  and  materials,  placed 
orders  for  equipment  at  home  or  abroad  practically  at 
their  own  discretion,  and  reconstructed  their  systems 
according  to  their  own  views  of  present  and  future 
needs.  The  necessary  expert  service  was  drawn  from 
the  ranks  of  their  own  personnel,  and  while  the  evalu- 
ation of  their  losses  was  an  elaborate  undertaking,  their 
arrangements  with  the  government  freed  them  from 
time-consuming  controversies  with  cantonal  commis- 
sions. No  question  arose  as  to  whether  or  not  indem- 
nities were  to  be  reemployed.  The  railways,  in  short, 
had  a  definite  and  concrete  task  to  perform,  and  no 
time  was  wasted  in  setting  about  it. 

122 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     123 

In  the  reconstruction  of  manufactures  and  other 
forms  of  industry,  on  the  other  hand,  the  interposition 
of  the  government  was  everywhere  apparent  and  vital. 
An  elaborate  administrative  system,  operating  almost 
from  the  beginning  with  energy  and  intelligent  re- 
sourcefulness, came  ultimately  to  embrace  within  its 
scope  most  of  the  important  details  of  industrial  recon- 
struction, and  at  the  same  time  helped  the  process  of 
restoration  to  go  on  with  rapid  strides.  It  was  of 
course  true  that  industrial  establishments,  accustomed 
to  keeping  of  records  and  accounts,  were  able  to  pro- 
ceed rapidly  with  the  evaluation  of  their  damages,  and 
that  their  financial  resources  in  reserves  and  borrowing 
power  were  indefinitely  greater  than  those  of  the  farm- 
ers; but  there  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  the  indus- 
trial revival  which  has  taken  place  throughout  the 
invaded  area  would  have  made  the  remarkable  prog- 
ress which  it  has  made  if  the  government  had  not 
supplied  both  a  coordinating  machinery  and  a  driving 
force.  If  the  restoration  of  the  railways  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  reconstruction  achieved  primarily  through  the 
effort  of  the  corporations  themselves,  industrial  recon- 
struction affords  the  best  example  of  what  could  be 
done  when  corporations  and  government  joined  hands. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  creation  in 
August,  1917,  of  an  office  of  industrial  reconstitution, 
and  to  the  various  steps  by  which  that  office  waa 
eventually,  in  January,  1920,  attached  to  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions.  The  primary  duty  of  the 
office,  acting  either  directly  or  through  the  agency  of 
other  organizations  to  be  formed  for  the  purpose,  was 
to  purchase  materials,  tools,  and  other  supplies  neces- 


124  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

sary  for  the  reestablishment  of  industrial  enterprises, 
and  to  arrange  for  their  equitable  distribution.  The 
distribution  was  to  be  made  either  on  account  or  by 
the  assignment  on  the  part  of  the  industrial  sinistre  of 
an  equivalent  portion  of  the  indemnity  for  war  dam- 
ages to  which  he  would  be  entitled.  Supplementary 
credits  in  aid  of  the  undertaking  were  at  the  same  time 
opened  with  the  Ministry  of  Commerce,  Industry,  and 
Posts  and  Telegraphs.  It  was  apparently  the  intention 
of  the  law  that  the  service  should  devote  itself  mainly 
to  providing  material  for  reconstruction  upon  which 
the  sinistres  might  draw  according  to  their  inclination 
or  ability;  but  the  fact  that  many  industrial  sinistres, 
in  the  period  during  which  the  settlement  of  their 
claims  to  damages  was  being  considered,  had  little  other 
resource  upon  which  to  call  made  the  cession  or  distri- 
bution of  material  a  function  of  great  and  increasing 
importance. 

Two  dangers  confronted  the  industrial  sinistre.  He 
might,  because  of  the  losses  which  he  had  sustained, 
become  insolvent,  or  he  might,  in  anticipation  of  an 
indemnity  not  yet  adjudicated,  overdraw  his  account 
and  plunge  himself  into  debt.  In  order  to  avoid  both 
of  these  evils  the  office  of  industrial  reconstitution 
undertook  to  make  a  summary  examination  of  the 
losses  sustained  by  each  sinistre  who  applied  for  cred- 
its or  material,  and  to  determine  provisionally  a  credit 
which,  while  less  than  the  amount  of  indemnity 
claimed,  would  also  probably  not  exceed  the  amount 
which  the  cantonal  commission  would  allow.  The  law 
of  July  5,  1917,  provided  for  an  evaluation  of  damages 
by  experts  acting  under  the  authority  of  the  prefects. 
Experts,  however,  were  few  and  delay  might  be  disas- 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     125 

trous.  The  office  of  industrial  reconstitution  accord- 
ingly accepted,  as  complying  with  the  spirit  of  the  law, 
such  statement  of  losses  submitted  by  the  sinistre  him- 
self as  a  representative  of  the  office,  following  an  exam- 
ination on  the  spot,  could  approve.  One  of  the  most 
practical  and  convincing  proofs  of  loss  was  that 
afforded  by  pictures,  and  a  photographic  service  was 
accordingly  organized  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
sinistres.  The  clearing  of  debris,  at  the  cost  of  the 
state,  was  also  undertaken  if  the  sinistre  so  desired. 

The  office  of  industrial  reconstitution  further  under- 
took to  provide  certain  materials  necessary  for  imme- 
diate use,  such  as  tarred  paper  or  canvas  for  temporary 
roofing  or  building,  and  other  material,  such  as  coal, 
whose  distribution  was  controlled  by  the  state;  to  re- 
cover and  repair  material  taken  away  by  the  Germans ; 
to  insure  the  proper  execution  of  the  law  of  war  dam- 
ages of  April  17,  1919,  and  of  the  later  law  of  July  31, 
1920,  providing  for  the  issuance  of  provisional  certifi- 
cates of  damages  and  the  payment  of  indemnities;  and 
to  supervise  the  definitive  preparation  of  claims  to 
indemnity. 

In  order  that  the  needs  of  industry  in  the  various 
departments  might  be  intelligently  and  sympathet- 
ically met  and  local  effort  stimulated,  a  policy  of  de- 
centralization was  adopted.  The  liberated  regions 
were  divided  into  eleven  sectors — Lille,  Valenciennes, 
Laon,  Maubeuge,  Charleville,  Nancy,  Arras,  Amiens, 
Compiegne,  Reims,  and  Paris.  Each  sector  except  that 
of  Paris  was  again  divided  into  sub-sectors,  the  num- 
ber of  such  sub-sectors  varying  from  one  to  seven 
according  to  the  industrial  importance  of  the  sectors. 
Special  coal-mining  sectors  were  also  created  at  Douai, 


126  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Briey,  and  Nancy.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  Paris  sector 
included  the  departments  of  Seine-et-Oise  and  Seine- 
et-Marne  as  well  as  that  of  the  Seine.  To  the  Paris 
sector  was  also  committed,  by  ministerial  decrees  or 
by  law,  the  consideration  of  questions  of  damages 
whose  territorial  location  was  unknown,  industrial 
damages  involving  more  than  one  department  or  oc- 
curring outside  of  the  "liberated  regions"  as  officially 
defined,  and  damages  in  Algiers,  or  in  the  colonies,  or 
on  the  seacoast.  The  decision  of  certain  general  ques- 
tions relating  to  damages  sustained  by  coal-mining 
companies  also  devolved  upon  the  Paris  sector. 

In  addition  to  a  chief  executive  officer  and  subordi- 
nate heads  of  various  bureaux,  there  was  formed  in 
each  sector  and  sub-sector  a  regional  committee  com- 
prising, besides  administrative  officials,  representatives 
of  chambers  of  commerce  and  of  local  industries.  The 
regional  committees  were  advisory  bodies,  presided 
over  by  the  chiefs  of  the  sectors  and  charged  with  the 
consideration  of  general  questions  submitted  by  the 
chiefs  or  by  the  members.  Their  most  important 
function,  however,  was  to  stimulate  local  effort,  to 
secure  as  large  a  use  as  possible  of  local  material,  local 
resources,  and  local  labor,  and  to  reduce  or  prevent 
local  unemployment.  A  financial  commission  for  the 
sector  lent  its  aid  in  the  preparation  of  the  accounts  of 
sinistres,  and  another  commission  examined  the  re- 
quests for  provisional  certificates  of  damages.  In  a 
number  of  sectors  the  publication  of  periodical  bulle- 
tins of  information  was  presently  begun. 

It  remained  for  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction 
to  give  unity  and  direction  to  this  scheme  of  sectors 
and  regional  committees,  without  at  the  same  time 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     127 

impairing  regional  autonomy.  The  membership  of  the 
office,  under  the  law  of  August  6,  1917,  comprised 
eight  representatives  of  ministries  and  eight  represen- 
tatives of  commerce  and  industry,  at  least  half  of  the 
latter  being  chosen  from  the  invaded  departments. 
Under  the  direction  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  the  office  undertook  to  prepare  and  carry  out 
general  plans  of  reconstruction,  to  assemble  and  dis- 
tribute materials,  to  supply  labor  and  transport,  and  to 
fix  the  prices  at  which  materials  should  be  furnished  to 
sinistres.  The  administrative  head  of  the  office  was 
the  secretary-general,  with  headquarters  at  Paris. 

For  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  acquisition  and 
distribution  of  materials  needed  for  reconstruction  an 
agreement  was  concluded  on  October  4,  1917,  under 
the  authority  of  the  law  of  August  6  of  that  year, 
between  the  Minister  of  Commerce,  Industry,  Posts, 
and  Telegraphs  and  a  private  corporation  known  as 
the  Comptoir  Central  d'Achats  Industriels  pour  les 
Regions  Envahies.  This  corporation,  the  capital  of 
which  was  one  million  francs  and  which  will  be  referred 
to  hereafter  as  the  Central  Purchasing  Agency,  under- 
took to  purchase  materials,  tools,  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds  required  by  industrial  sinistres  and  to  distribute 
or  assemble  them  under  the  direction  of  the  office  of 
industrial  reconstruction.  The  handling  of  industrial 
materials  furnished  by  the  state  or  recovered  from 
Germany  was  also  intrusted  to  it.  A  commission  of 
one  per  cent,  was  allowed  on  expenditures  made  on 
account  of  the  state,  and  a  further  commission  of  one- 
half  of  one  per  cent,  on  the  value  of  materials  turned 
over  to  sinistres. 

Delivery  of  materials  to  sinistres  was  to  be  made  by 


128  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  agency  only  where  an  agreement  was  entered  into 
by  the  sinistre  to  reemploy  the  materials  in  the  in- 
vaded departments,  and  with  the  further  proviso,  in 
the  case  of  industries  actually  in  operation,  that  the 
quantities  of  material  asked  for  should  not  exceed 
what  was  normally  needed  for  three  months.  Prices 
of  material  and  other  supplies  were  fixed  in  general  at 
ten  per  cent,  above  cost  in  order  to  cover  transport, 
handling,  etc.  Permission  was  also  accorded  to  the 
corporation  to  buy  and  sell  on  its  own  account,  but  any 
profits  in  excess  of  five  per  cent,  annually  on  the  capi- 
tal stock  were  to  go  to  the  state.  When  the  service 
which  the  agency  undertook  to  render  to  the  state  had 
ended,  the  corporation  would  become  wholly  a  private 
enterprise. 

A  contract  of  similar  character  was  made  on  May  19, 
1919,  between  the  then  Minister  of  Industrial  Recon- 
struction and  an  association  of  industrials  of  the  Lille 
sector,  organized  as  the  Comptoir  Regional  d' Achats 
with  a  capital  of  250,000  francs.  To  this  regional 
agency  was  also  intrusted  the  liquidation  of  certain 
stocks  of  material  left  in  British  camps. 

The  creation  of  the  Central  Purchasing  Agency 
placed  at  the  service  of  the  industrial  sinistre  a  com- 
mercial organization  in  touch  with  the  market  and 
financially  interested  in  developing  as  large  a  volume 
of  business  as  possible,  but  with  its  business  methods 
and  its  profits  strictly  controlled.  Technical  commit- 
tees established  by  the  agency  worked  in  harmony 
with  the  technical  services  of  the  government,  and  an 
elaborate  control  of  accounts  was  organized.  From  the 
beginning  the  plan  worked  well.  Offices  and  ware- 
houses of  the  agency  were  promptly  established  in  all 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     129 

parts  of  the  invaded  area,  and  the  systematic  distribu- 
tion of  material  and  supplies  was  energetically  pushed. 
In  practice  all  sinistres,  whether  industrials  or  not, 
benefited  by  the  arrangement,  the  miscellaneous  stocks 
carried  by  the  agency  offering  facilities  not  easily  ob- 
tained elsewhere.1 

By  the  end  of  1921  the  work  for  which  the  Central 
Purchasing  Agency  was  created  had  been  in  the  main 
performed,  and  the  offices  throughout  the  liberated 
regions  were  being  closed  and  the  remaining  stocks  dis- 
posed of. 

In  order  that  the  supply  of  material  for  industrial 
reconstruction  might  be  regulated  with  some  regard 
to  necessity,  requests  were  classified.  Those  which 
ought  to  be  granted  with  the  least  possible  delay — for 
example,  a  request  for  a  motor  for  a  shop  which  had 
everything  else  installed — were  classed  as  of  extreme 
urgency.  Requests  less  pressing  but  of  great  impor- 
tance were  classed  as  of  primary  urgency,  and  other 
important  requests  as  of  secondary  urgency.  Impor- 
tant pieces  of  work  were  sometimes  declared  by  minis- 
terial order  to  be  of  primary  or  extreme  urgency,  and 
special  efforts  made  to  prosecute  or  complete  them. 

A  central  depot  of  demountable  houses,  controlled 
by  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction,  was  estab- 
lished, and  efforts  were  made  to  encourage  the  manu- 
facture of  such  houses  and  of  building  or  industrial 
material  in  various  parts  of  the  invaded  region. 
Houses  were  sold  to  industrial  sinistres  at  one-half  the 

*An  advertisement  of  the  agency  in  the  Soisson  sector  in  Sep- 
tember, 1921,  listed  among  the  articles  for  sale  glassware,  bedding, 
bricks,  firewood,  hardware,  kitchen  utensils,  clothing,  barbed  wire, 
barraques  in  sections,  stoves,  lumber,  pumps,  cordage,  furniture,  tools, 
machinery,  paints,  sections  of  light  railway,  and  numerous  other 
articles.    Sales  were  made  against  war  damages  or  on  account. 


130  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

cost  of  production,  or  rented  at  an  annual  rental  of 
three  per  cent,  or  two-thirds  of  the  cost  price.  The 
state  further  undertook  to  erect  free  of  charge  groups 
of  workingmen's  houses,  provided  the  land  on  which 
they  were  placed  belonged  to  the  state  or  local  com- 
munity or  was  rented  for  the  purpose,  the  material  of 
the  houses  in  such  cases  remaining  the  property  of  the 
state.  The  liquidation  of  the  French^  British,  and 
American  army  stocks  to  which  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions  had  a  claim  was  carried  out  by 
agents  of  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction,  the 
duties  in  connection  with  the  British  stocks  being 
shared  with  the  Regional  Purchasing  Agency  at  Lille. 

Another  important  part  of  the  work  of  the  office 
had  to  do  with  the  supply  of  electrical  motors  for 
industrial  establishments,  in  aid  of  which  a  credit  of 
55,000,000  francs  was  opened  with  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Works.  The  formation  of  a  company  for  the 
construction  and  operation  of  a  high-tension  system  of 
electrical  power  transmission  was  authorized  by  law 
in  August,  1920.  The  expense  of  installing  the  system, 
which  was  to  cover  practically  the  entire  invaded 
area,  was  estimated  at  135,000,000  francs,  and  was  to 
be  borne  in  part  by  the  state  and  in  part  by  the  com- 
panies or  establishments  using  the  power. 

In  addition  to  the  sums  available  for  industrial  sin- 
istres  as  indemnity  for  war  damages,  and  the  appro- 
priations of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  car- 
ried by  the  budgets  from  year  to  year,  very  large 
special  credits  were  opened  from  time  to  time  in  aid  of 
industrial  reconstruction.  A  decree  of  June  10,  1919, 
authorized  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction  to 
approve  advances  to  the  Regional  Purchasing  Agency 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     131 

at  Lille  to  the  amount  of  12,000,000  francs.  On  Sep- 
tember 19  the  amount  was  raised  to  50,000,000  francs. 
Meantime,  on  July  27,  a  credit  of  20,000,000  francs  had 
been  opened  for  the  various  sectors,  one-half  at  least 
of  the  amount  going  to  the  Lille  sector.  Ten  days  later 
500,000,000  francs  was  added  to  the  750,000,000  francs 
already  appropriated  by  laws  of  August  6,  1917,  and 
December  31,  1918;  this  amount  was  increased  by 
1,500,000,000  francs  on  October  22.  The  total  of  these 
advances,  which  by  no  means  exhaust  the  list,  reached 
2,820,000,000  francs,  to  which  is  to  be  added  numerous 
appropriations,  some  hundreds  of  millions  in  the  ag- 
gregate, in  aid  of  particular  sectors. 

This  in  substance  was  the  administrative  scheme. 
The  criticism  which  has  been  most  strongly  urged 
against  it  is  that  it  favored  the  industrial  sinistre  at  the 
expense  of  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  and  the  profes- 
sional classes,  and  that  housing  was  neglected  while 
factory  building  thrived.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but 
that  the  allegations  of  fact  upon  which  the  criticism  is 
based  are  true.  It  should  be  pointed  out,  however, 
that  the  administration  of  the  office  of  industrial  re- 
construction, prior  to  the  time  when  the  office  was 
merged  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  was 
characterized  by  an  energy  and  an  organizing  ability 
which  the  other  agencies  of  reconstruction  unhappily 
lacked,  that  the  higher  technical  staff  was  exception- 
ally competent,  and  that  the  work  of  industrial  resto- 
ration was  already  well  advanced  before  the  office  lost 
its  independent  status.  It  has  also  to  be  remembered, 
as  has  already  been  said,  that  while  industrial  losses 
were  appallingly  heavy,  comparatively  few  industrials 
were  ruined  by  the  war,  and  that  those  who  desired  to 


132  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

rebuild,  as  far  the  larger  number  of  them  did,  usually 
possessed  resources  which  they  were  quick  to  use  once 
they  were  assured  that  damages  would  be  paid.  The 
great  banking  companies  of  France  remained  intact, 
factories  which  had  been  making  munitions  resumed 
easily  the  manufacture  of  machinery  and  tools,  and  the 
great  industrial  resources  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  were 
in  French  hands.  It  would  have  been  strange  if,  under 
these  circumstances,  the  revival  of  industry  had  not 
made  relatively  rapid  progress  even  if  governmental 
organization  had  not  been  as  efficient  as  it  was. 

Whether  or  not  the  development  of  industry  at  the 
expense  of  agriculture  and  domestic  comfort  was  the 
best  thing  for  the  invaded  departments  or  for  the  coun- 
try seems  to  depend  a  good  deal  upon  the  point  of 
view.  There  have  been  and  still  are  in  France  two 
sharply  contrasted  opinions  on  the  subject.  It  is  urged 
on  the  one  hand  that  since  the  rehabilitation  of  the 
national  life  as  a  whole,  and  not  merely  the  restoration 
of  particular  departments,  is  the  primary  aim  of  recon- 
struction, that  end  would  best  have  been  attained  by 
first  insuring  a  normal  food  supply  and  reestablishing 
the  people  in  their  homes,  leaving  the  development  of 
industry  to  follow  naturally  when  these  primary  neces- 
sities of  happiness  and  well-being  had  been  insured. 
Agriculture,  it  is  insisted,  is  still  the  basic  French  in- 
dustry, attachment  to  the  soil  is  still  a  dominating 
French  characteristic,  and  it  is  these  fundamental 
things  that  ought  first  to  have  been  considered. 

To  this  it  is  replied  that  agriculture,  however  impor- 
tant, is  no  longer  the  occupation  of  a  majority  of  the 
French  population  as  it  once  was;   that  industrial 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     133 

workers,  although  having  little  attachment  to  the  soil, 
are  nevertheless  as  much  entitled  to  consideration  as 
the  peasants;  and  that  if  through  delay  in  the  restora- 
tion of  industrial  life  the  industries  which  had  grown 
up  in  the  invaded  departments  had  been  forced  to  re- 
establish themselves  elsewhere,  the  entire  economic 
life  of  the  invaded  regions  would  have  been  trans- 
formed. One  of  the  chief  reasons,  it  will  be  recalled, 
for  the  stubborn  insistence  by  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties, in  the  long  debate  over  the  law  of  war  damages, 
that  the  reemployment  of  indemnities  should  be  made 
obligatory  if  anything  more  than  the  original  value  of 
the  property  was  to  be  reimbursed,  was  the  fear  that 
the  industries  of  the  invaded  departments  would  other- 
wise not  return;  but  if,  having  been  encouraged  to 
return,  they  were  compelled  to  wait  until  agriculture 
was  restored  and  the  population  adequately  housed,  the 
purpose  which  the  law  intended  would  be  defeated. 

Whatever  the  abstract  soundness  of  either  theory,  it 
is  reasonably  clear  that  neither  could,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, have  prevailed  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
other.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  problem  of  recon- 
struction, once  its  solution  was  begun,  should  be 
treated  as  a  whole.  Industrial  and  agricultural  forces, 
however,  were  unequally  matched.  Where  the  indus- 
trial element  possessed  organization,  business  methods 
in  records  and  accounting,  financial  resource,  and  soli- 
darity of  interest,  the  agricultural  element  could  offer 
little  save  primitive  methods,  an  ingrained  suspicion  of 
capital  and  its  ways,  small  property  holdings  con- 
stantly growing  smaller,  and  a  profound  individualism 
which  made  cooperation  and  sacrifice  difficult  or  im- 


134  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

possible.  So  far  as  political  influences  entered  in  to 
determine  the  policy  of  the  government,  it  was  an 
unequal  struggle  in  which  industry  won.  The  chief 
regret  to  be  entertained  is  that  the  end  which  the  gov- 
ernment sought — namely,  the  restoration  of  normal  life 
in  all  respects — should  have  been  pursued  with  such 
unequal  energy  in  the  different  fields  into  which  the 
administrative  worth  of  reconstruction  was  long 
divided. 

A  survey  made  on  May  1,  1921,  of  4,701  industrial 
establishments  employing  at  least  twenty  persons  each 
out  of  a  total  of  5,297  such  establishments  before 
the  war,  showed  the  following  results.  Of  the  4,701 
establishments,  760  were  employing  at  least  as  many 
persons  as  before  the  war,  and  were  accordingly  to  be 
classed  as  industries  in  which  reconstruction  was  com- 
plete. Of  this  number  207  were  metallurgical  or  elec- 
trical works  or  works  manufacturing  structural  mate- 
rial, 137  were  textile  industries,  55  were  sugar  re- 
fineries, canneries,  food  factories,  and  the  like,  14  were 
mines  or  quarries,  and  347  represented  various  indus- 
tries. The  number  of  establishments  which  had  re- 
sumed operations,  but  with  a  smaller  working  force 
than  in  1914,  was  2,885,  of  which  712  were  textile 
works  and  661  metallurgical,  electrical,  or  construction 
works.  The  total  number  of  establishments  which 
were  operating  in  whole  or  in  part  was  77.5  per  cent, 
of  the  number  surveyed.  A  similar  survey  of  6,340 
establishments  employing  more  than  ten  persons  each, 
out  of  a  total  of  8,792  such  establishments  before  the 
war,  showed  4,940  operating  in  whole  or  in  part. 

The  number  of  employees  in  1914  in  the  5,297 
establishments  employing  at  least  twenty  persons  each 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     135 

was  816,716;  in  1921  it  was  271,337.  To  this  latter 
figure  is  to  be  added  75,221  persons  engaged  in  clearing 
or  rebuilding.  The  number  of  persons  actually  engaged 
in  production  was  thus  about  one-third  of  the  pre-war 
total.  The  number  of  employees  in  industrial  estab- 
lishments is  not,  of  course,  a  wholly  accurate  indica- 
tion of  the  volume  of  production.  The  figures  for 
1921,  for  example,  show  the  number  of  industrial  work- 
ers who  had  returned  and  found  employment,  but 
they  do  not  take  account  of  changes  in  methods  of 
production,  or  of  the  average  length  of  the  working 
day  or  week  as  compared  with  the  period  before  the 
war,  or  of  strikes.  On  this  point  some  comparisons 
made  in  October,  1921,  are  informing.  Certain  impor- 
tant groups  of  industries — textiles,  metallurgy,  tools 
and  hardware,  chemicals,  clothing,  leather,  and  mines 
— in  which  production  had  attained  on  an  average  50 
per  cent,  of  its  pre-war  volume,  were  employing  55  per 
cent,  of  their  pre-war  working  force.  As  between  the 
several  groups,  however,  the  variations  were  consider- 
able, the  percentages  of  production  and  employment 
being,  for  textiles,  45  and  55  respectively,  for  metal- 
lurgy 50  and  55,  for  tools  and  hardware  66  and  63,  for 
chemicals  58.5  and  62,  for  clothing  58.5  and  73,  for 
leather  45  and  67,  and  for  mines  31  and  36.  It  would 
appear  from  these  figures  that  the  widespread  unem- 
ployment which  prevailed  in  France  in  the  spring  and 
early  summer  of  1921  was  less  acute  in  the  liberated 
regions  than  elsewhere. 

An  examination  of  the  list  of  industries  enumerated 
in  September,  1921,  shows  some  interesting  variations. 
Of  the  six  establishments  engaged  in  fine  metal  work 
or  the  treatment  of  precious  stones,  all  had  resumed 


136  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

operations.    Of  manufactures  of  straw,  feathers,  etc., 

93.3  per  cent,  had  resumed,  of  printing  and  binding, 
89.6  per  cent.,  of  tools  and  hardware  88  per  cent.,  of 
furniture  and  woodworking  85.2  per  cent.,  of  clothing 

83.4  per  cent.,  and  of  chemical  industries  77.9  per  cent. 
The  lowest  percentages  were  to  be  found  in  the  textile 
industry  and  in  establishments  dealing  with  agricul- 
tural products  and  food,  where  the  figures  of  resump- 
tion were  68.6  per  cent,  and  62.6  per  cent,  respectively. 
Generally  speaking,  the  resumption  of  operations  was 
most  rapid  in  industries  which  were  represented  by 
comparatively  few  establishments,  or  in  those  in  which 
the  cost  of  new  machinery  or  buildings  was  relatively 
small.  A  resumption  of  work  in  only  68.6  per  cent, 
of  the  textile  mills,  for  example,  must  be  considered 
along  with  the  fact  that  1,237  textile  mills  were  covered 
by  the  survey. 

Statistical  data  for  a  more  detailed  study  of  indus- 
trial reconstruction  as  a  whole,  or  for  a  comparison 
between  the  present  facilities  for  production  and  those 
which  existed  before  the  war,  are  unfortunately  lacking. 
The  statistical  methods  of  the  French  government 
leave  much  to  be  desired,  and  French  business  men 
are  notoriously  reluctant  to  give  information  about 
their  affairs.  Figures  compiled  by  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions  to  September  1,  1921,  for  industries 
of  all  kinds,  show  that  in  the  Lille  sector,  the  largest 
and  most  important  industrial  area  in  the  north,  about 
eleven-twelfths  of  the  establishments  had  resumed 
operations  in  whole  or  in  part;  in  the  Valenciennes 
sector,  the  next  in  importance,  more  than  five-sixths, 
and  in  the  Laon  sector,  the  third  in  rank,  about  five- 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     137 

eighths.  The  percentage  of  resumption  in  the  Arras 
sector  was  about  the  same  as  that  in  the  sector  of 
Valenciennes,  and  that  in  the  Amiens  sector  a  trifle 
larger  than  at  Laon.  In  the  Reims,  Maubeuge,  and 
Compiegne  sectors  more  than  three-fourths  of  the 
industries  were  operating,  and  in  the  Nancy  sector 
about  five-sixths. 

Any  detailed  treatment  of  the  subject,  however,  even 
if  statistics  were  available,  would  fill  a  stout  volume. 
The  full  record  of  progress  in  industrial  reconstruction 
is  to  be  read  only  in  the  history  of  the  thousands  of 
industries  which  have  been  reestablished,  and  which 
are  rapidly  restoring  the  industrial  life  of  the  invaded 
departments  to  a  condition  approximately  that  which 
was  enjoyed  before  the  war.1  Yet  for  the  untechnical 
observer  these  details,  even  if  they  were  accessible, 
would  hardly  do  more  than  confirm  the  general  impres- 
sion which  a  visit  to  the  devastated  departments  leaves. 
To-day  the  traveler,  no  matter  what  manufacturing  or 
mining  district  he  may  enter,  finds  himself  in  a  hive  of 
industry.  From  the  Pas-de-Calais  and  the  Nord  to 
the  Meurthe-et-Moselle  and  the  Vosges,  in  the  Marne 
and  the  Aisne  as  well  as  in  the  Oise  and  the  Ardennes, 
factories  are  under  construction  or  already  operating, 
mines  are  being  restored  or  actually  worked,  and  rail- 
ways, rivers,  and  canals  are  thickly  dotted  with  ship- 
ments of  building  material,  machinery,  raw  materials, 
finished  products,  and  coal.  Hundreds  of  factories  and 
mills  of  which  only  the  wreckage  survived  at  the  time 

1 A  series  of  profusely  illustrated  articles  in  Le  Monde  Illustre, 
1920-1921,  gives  general  sketches  of  numerous  establishments.  Both 
French  and  English  editions  are  published. 


138  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  the  armistice  are  being  rebuilt  on  new  and  larger 
lines  and  with  the  best  modern  construction,  and 
equipped  with  engines  and  machinery  of  the  latest 
pattern  and  of  increased  productive  capacity.  Store- 
houses and  cranes,  railway  connections,  slips  for  canal 
boats,  oil  tanks  and  water  reservoirs,  and  whole  villages 
of  solidly  built  workingmen's  houses,  are  under  way 
everywhere,  while  the  greatly  increased  use  of  electrical 
power  is  covering  the  industrial  area  with  a  network 
of  high-tension  transmission  lines.  Iron  and  steel  mills, 
machinery  and  boiler  works,  factories  for  hardware, 
tools,  and  chemicals,  textile  plants,  woodworking  es- 
tablishments of  various  kinds,  breweries,  brickyards, 
cement  works,  and  quarries  are  only  the  more  impor- 
tant evidences  of  an  industrial  renaissance  of  which 
one  is  hardly  ever  out  of  sight. 

The  one  notable  exception  to  the  general  record 
of  recovery  is  the  sugar  industry.  Hardly  any  of 
the  sugar  factories  which  were  destroyed  by  the  war 
have  yet  been  restored,  the  34  plants  in  operation 
being  either  those  whose  injuries  were  compara- 
tively slight,  or  those  which  were  located  outside 
the  limits  of  the  war  zone.  Of  the  more  than  140 
sugar  factories  which  suffered  on  account  of  the 
war,  at  least  eleven,  it  is  reported,  will  not  be  rebuilt 
and  a  number  of  others  will  be  absorbed  by  larger 
companies.  Reports  for  the  operating  season  of  1920- 
1921,  the  latest  available,1  showed  that  in  the  seven 
departments  of  the  Aisne,  the  Ardennes,  the  Marne, 
the  Nord,  the  Oise,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  the  Somme 
56  companies  were  considering  the  reconstruction  of 
their  plants,  but  that  in  the  case  of  42  plants  the  prob- 

tAnnuaire  Sucrier  (Paris),  1920-1921. 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  INDUSTRY     139 

able  date  when  work  would  be  resumed  could  not  yet 
be  indicated.  The  fact  that  no  considerable  amount 
of  rebuilding  was  yet  in  progress  presumably  explains 
the  trifling  amount  reported  to  have  been  received  for 
war  damages. 

Certain  special  incidents  of  the  industrial  revival 
should  not  be  overlooked.  The  local  chambers  of 
commerce,  some  of  which  began  even  during  the  period 
of  German  occupation  to  plan  for  times  of  peace,  have 
played  an  important  part  in  the  reconstruction  pro- 
gram; and  the  syndicates  of  employers  which  are  an 
important  element  in  French  industry  have  acted 
effectively.  Branches  of  the  Bank  of  France,  the  Credit 
Lyonnais,  the  Societe  Generate,  and  other  large  banks 
were  promptly  reopened  throughout  the  invaded  area, 
and  private  banking  houses  have  resumed  business. 
Huge  loans,  mainly  subscribed  in  France,  have  been 
floated  for  reconstruction  purposes,  sometimes  by  indi- 
vidual concerns,  sometimes  by  combinations  of  com- 
panies. In  December  and  January,  1921-22,  for  ex- 
ample, three  large  companies  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  machinery,  railway  and  construction  ma- 
terial, electrical  appliances,  etc.,  with  combined  capi- 
tals of  261,000,000  francs,  floated  a  joint  loan,  under 
the  name  of  the  Groupement  Cail,  Fives-Lille,  Thom- 
son-Houston, of  185,000,000  francs;  while  the  Groupe- 
ment de  la  Grosse  Metallurgie,  comprising  the  largest 
iron  and  steel  companies  in  the  north  and  east,  placed 
on  the  market  a  loan  of  500,000,000  francs.  Far 
the  larger  part  of  the  material  used  in  rebuilding 
has  been  drawn  from  France,  far  the  larger  part  of 
the  machinery  with  which  the  restored  factories,  mines, 
and  mills  are  equipped  has  been  made  in  French 


140  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

establishments  or  in  those  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  and 
most  of  the  labor  has  been  French  labor.  When,  in 
October,  1914,  the  government  declared  its  purpose  to 
come  to  the  aid  of  the  invaded  departments  to  the 
fullest  extent  of  its  ability,  it  also  announced  that  the 
other  departments  would  be  called  upon  to  help.  No 
such  call  has  ever  been  made,  but  the  restoration  of 
industry  which  is  already  far  advanced,  and  which  two 
or  three  years  more  should  see  virtually  completed,  has 
been  in  truth  the  work,  not  merely  of  the  invaded 
departments,  but  of  the  whole  of  France. 

Finally,  it  should  be  noted  that  with  manufacturing 
industries  as  with  the  railways,  reconstruction  has 
planned  for  the  future.  In  hardly  any  important  estab- 
lishment have  the  owners  been  content  merely  to 
replace  what  was  destroyed.  Larger  and  better  plants, 
improved  machinery  and  processes,  reduction  of  waste, 
and  increased  and  more  varied  output  are  the  aim  prac- 
tically everywhere.  No  one  who  has  seen  the  indus- 
trial regions  of  invaded  France  as  the  war  left  them 
will  ever  regard  the  war  as  a  blessing  in  disguise.  Yet 
the  war  taught  many  lessons,  and  not  the  least  of  those 
lessons  was  the  need  of  a  better  and  more  scientific 
organization  of  French  industry.  That  lesson  many 
industrial  sinistres  of  the  north  and  east  have  taken 
to  heart.  One  may  reasonably  anticipate  that  within 
a  few  years,  if  labor  disturbance  and  international 
complications  do  not  prevent,  the  figures  of  pre-war 
production  in  all  primary  industries  will  have  been  sur- 
passed, and  that  the  products  of  French  factories  and 
mills  will  have  gained  a  new  competitive  place  in  the 
markets  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE   MINES 

The  mining  regions  of  France  comprise  two  distinct 
and  separated  areas:  the  coal-mining  district  of  the 
north,  lying  almost  entirely  in  the  departments  of  the 
Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  the  iron-ore  district 
of  Lorraine,  extending  from  Nancy  to  the  north  and 
west  of  Metz.  Both  regions  were  occupied  by  the 
Germans  and  both  suffered  heavily,  the  losses  in  the 
coal-mining  area  being  the  most  serious. 

The  bituminous-coal  region  of  northern  France  forms 
the  southwestern  portion  of  a  series  of  coal  deposits 
which  extend  from  Westphalia  and  the  Ruhr  district 
across  Belgium  to  the  western  part  of  the  Pas-de- 
Calais.  The  total  length  of  the  basin  in  France  is 
upwards  of  one  hundred  kilometres,  the  breadth  vary- 
ing from  five  to  fifteen  kilometres.  The  mines  are 
worked  under  concessions  from  the  state,  the  conces- 
sions of  the  Anzin  company,  to  the  west  of  Valen- 
ciennes, and  the  Aniche  company,  to  the  east  and  south 
of  Douai,  being  territorially  the  largest  and  that  of  the 
Lens  company  the  most  productive.  The  total  coal 
production  of  the  region  in  1913  was  27,388,000  tons, 
of  which  20,858,757  tons,  or  more  than  half  of  the  total 
production  in  France,  came  from  the  mines  which  were 
requisitioned  or  destroyed.    The  latter  group  of  mines 

141 


V 

142  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

also  furnished  in  1913  2,241,000  tons  of  coke,  or  more 
than  three-fourths  of  the  total  French  production.  The 
annual  output  of  the  Nord  mines  supplied  about  seven- 
eighths  of  the  coal  required  by  the  industries  of  that 
department. 

The  Lens  basin  in  the  Pas-de-Calais,  comprising  a 
number  of  concessions  in  addition  to  that  of  the  Lens 
company,  had  before  the  war  an  annual  output  of 
about  10,000,000  tons  and  was  the  most  important  from 
the  standpoint  of  production.  The  Lens  company 
itself,  with  an  output  of  about  3,500,000  tons  from 
sixteen  mines,  was  also  the  chief  producer  of  coke. 

The  German  occupation  of  the  mines  and  their 
eventual  devastation  went  through  several  stages.1 
In  August  and  September,  1914,  the  advance  forces  of 
the  German  right  wing  reconnoitered  the  mining  basin, 
but  no  depredations  were  committed.  Although  thirty 
per  cent,  of  the  personnel  had  been  mobilized  the  mines 
continued  operations.  At  the  end  of  August  such  of 
the  personnel  as  was  still  subject  to  mobilization  was 
evacuated  and  locomotives  were  withdrawn.  On  Octo- 
ber 1  the  invasion  began.  The  Nord  mines  were  not 
disturbed,  but  in  those  of  the  Pas-de-Calais  near  to  the 
front  work  was  suspended,  many  localities  were  devas- 
tated, and  offices,  storehouses,  workingmen's  quarters, 
and  works  were  pillaged  and  in  some  cases  burned. 

The  first  German  advance  was  followed  by  about 
four  years  of  organized  occupation.  In  December, 
1914,  the  Bethune  concession  was  entered;  in  the  fall 

1The  data  for  the  northern  basins  which  follow  are  taken  from 
an  address  of  M.  Stouvenot,  chief  engineer  of  mines  at  Douai, 
delivered  before  the  Industrial  Society  of  Northern  France,  May  26, 
1921,  a  copy  of  which  was  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  by  the  author. 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  MINES        143 

of  1915  Loos  was  taken  and  the  advance  was  pushed  to 
the  south  of  Lievin;  in  April,  1917,  the  German  line 
approached  Lens.  Until  October,  1918,  however,  fur- 
ther changes  in  the  German  front  were  of  minor  impor- 
tance, and  the  line  itself  did  not  go  beyond  Lens.  The 
Nord  mines  continued  to  operate  under  German  super- 
vision, but  chiefly  for  local  needs;  nearly  half  of  their 
output  was  eventually  requisitioned,  however,  and  a 
portion  of  their  supplies  and  machinery  was  taken. 
Production  in  the  Nord,  which  had  reached  6,813,761 
tons  in  1913,  fell  to  1,289,623  tons  in  the  second  half 
of  1914  and  1,947,158  tons  in  1915;  it  then  rose  to 
2,433,975  tons  in  1916  and  2,350,115  tons  in  1917.  The 
Pas-de-Calais  mines,  on  the  other  hand,  were  subjected 
to  systematic  devastation,  those  not  working  were 
stripped  of  whatever  could  be  carried  away,  and  the 
pits  began  to  fill  with  water.  Production,  which  had 
dropped  from  11,847,766  tons  in  1913  to  1,644,245  tons 
in  the  last  six  months  of  1914,  fell  to  256,080  tons  in 
1915,  416,452  tons  in  1916,  and  281,203  tons  in  1917. 
The  regime  of  general  destruction  began  in  Septem- 
ber, 1918.  The  mines  which  had  continued  working 
under  German  control  suspended  operations,  and  before 
the  German  forces  withdrew  practically  all  parts  of  the 
works,  including  the  company  railways,  were  destroyed 
by  explosions.  Lack  of  time  prevented  the  complete 
destruction  of  the  linings  of  the  pits  except  at  Lens 
and  Lievin,  where  even  this  was  successfully  accom- 
plished. At  103  places  where  mining  was  carried  on, 
comprising  212  pits  ranging  in  depth  from  230  to  704 
metres,  destruction  was  virtually  complete,  while  23 
other  places  not  actually  invaded  but  under  fire  suf- 


144  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

fered  more  or  less  damage  in  their  surface  installations. 
All  of  the  hoists  except  four  at  Anzin  were  thrown 
down;  practically  all  machines  except  two  small  ex- 
traction machines  at  Anzin  were  either  ruined  or  left- 
unusable  ;  large  numbers  of  boilers  were  injured  or  dis- 
placed; washing  machines,  screens,  and  coke  ovens 
were  generally  demolished,  and  railways  destroyed.  Of 
18,000  workingmen's  houses  injured  or  destroyed,  12,000 
were  completely  wrecked,  and  140  pits  out  of  212  had 
been  ruined. 

Save  at  Bethune,  where  temporary  repairs  were 
quickly  made,  all  of  the  mines  of  the  Nord  and  most 
of  those  of  the  Pas-de-Calais  were  flooded,  some  of  the 
most  important  mines,  including  those  at  Meurchin, 
Lens,  Lievin,  and  Vimy,  being  completely  filled  before 
the  pit  linings  could  be  restored.  At  the  end  of  1918 
100,000,000  cubic  metres  of  water  still  remained  to  be 
pumped  out  and  2,800  kilometres  of  underground  gal- 
leries awaited  reconstruction.  No  machinery  was  left 
for  entering  the  mines,  the  pumps  were  gone,  railways 
were  a  wreck,  and  there  was  no  power.  The  estimated 
value  in  1914  of  the  installations  destroyed  was  about 
975,000,000  francs,  representing  a  replacement  cost  of 
from  four  to  five  milliards. 

Before  the  Germans  had  withdrawn,  however,  the 
work  of  reconstruction  had  begun.  In  the  summer  of 
1917  a  commission  representing  all  of  the  mining  com- 
panies whose  properties  had  been  invaded  undertook 
a  systematic  study  of  the  problem.  As  a  result  of 
their  deliberations  four  organizations  were  presently 
formed.  A  technical  commission,  dealing  with  the 
question  of  machinery  and  appliances,  placed  orders 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  MINES        145 

which  by  January  1,  1921,  had  aggregated  454,535,927 
francs.  An  electrical  company  (La  Societe  filectrique 
des  Houilleres  du  Pas-de-Calais)  undertook  to  supply 
electrical  power  for  the  Pas-de-Calais  mines,  and  an- 
other company  (La  Societe  Civile  de  Denoyage  des 
Houilleres  du  Pas-de-Calais)  devoted  itself  to  the  task 
of  pumping  and  clearing  the  mines  in  the  same  depart- 
ment. When  on  February  1,  1921,  the  state  ceased  to 
make  advances  in  money  and  material  a  fourth  organ- 
ization (Le  Groupement  des  Houilleres  du  Nord  et  du 
Pas-de-Calais)  was  formed  which  issued  a  collective 
loan  of  1,200,000,000  francs. 

The  first  task  was  the  restoration  of  the  railways 
operated  by  the  mining  companies.  Of  these  all  but 
about  400  kilometres  had  been  rebuilt  by  the  end  of 
May,  1921.  By  the  same  date  the  clearing  of  debris 
had  been  largely  completed,  more  than  half  of  the  206 
hoists  had  been  rebuilt  or  repaired,  and  92  temporary 
structures  for  pumping  or  reconstruction  work  had  been 
erected.  Old  machinery  was  repaired  and  new  elec- 
trical machines  were  installed,  and  the  introduction  of 
electrical  power,  supplied  in  part  by  independent  elec- 
trical companies,  was  begun. 

In  February,  1920,  a  contract  was  made  with  the 
state  for  the  use  of  45  vertical  pumps  and  other  appli- 
ances for  clearing  the  mines.  All  the  ventilating  ma- 
chinery of  the  mines  had  been  destroyed  and  had  to  be 
replaced.  The  reconstruction  of  the  woodwork  in 
the  underground  galleries,  much  of  which  had  been 
weakened  or  displaced  when  the  mines  were  flooded, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  linings  of  the  pits,  were  long 
and  difficult  tasks  in  which  hopeful  beginnings  were 


146  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

made.  The  reconstruction  of  screens,  washers,  coke 
ovens,  and  mills  was  left  until  the  last,  the  first  aim 
being  the  restoration  of  the  mines  to  a  point  where  the 
extraction  of  coal  could  be  resumed. 

By  the  summer  of  1921  the  production  of  coal  in  the 
reconstructed  Nord  mines  had  exceeded  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  pre-war  figure.  The  total  production  for  all  the 
mines  of  the  two  departments  was  about  one-fourth 
of  the  production  before  the  war.  Coke  ovens  were  in 
operation  at  Anzin,  Aniche,  Lens,  and  elsewhere,  and 
the  making  of  briquettes  had  been  resumed.  All  of 
the  employees'  houses  in  the  Nord  which  could  be 
repaired  had  been  put  in  order,  and  some  thousands  of 
new  houses  had  been  erected.  At  Lens,  where  9,022 
houses  had  been  swept  away,  1,100  had  been  rebuilt; 
at  Lievin,  where  4,500  houses  had  been  destroyed,  more 
than  800  had  been  replaced;  at  Meurchin  only  200 
houses  remained  to  be  built  at  the  end  of  July,  1921. * 
The  personnel  of  the  Nord  mines,  which  numbered 
34,044  in  1914,  had  risen  to  36,348,  while  in  the  Pas- 
de-Calais  the  number  of  employees  reached  34,426  as 
against  56,558  before  the  war. 

Until  February  1,  1921,  the  expense  of  reconstruc- 
tion, as  well  as  the  cost  of  clearing  away  debris  and 
pumping  the  mines,  was  borne  by  the  state,  the  funds 
for  reconstruction  being  in  the  form  of  advances  on 
account  of  war  damages  later  to  be  determined.  After 
that  date  state  advances  for  reconstruction  ceased, 
but  the  state  continued  to  pay  for  clearing  and  pump- 
ing, the  cost  of  these  operations  being  about  80,000,000 

1The  figures  for  Lens  and  Meurchin  are  taken  from  La  Journee 
Industrielle,  July  21,  1921. 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  MINES        147 

francs  per  month.  The  expenses  of  further  recon- 
struction, averaging  from  55,000,000  to  60,000,000 
francs  per  month,  were  met  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
joint  loan  of  1,200,000,000  francs  already  referred  to,  the 
security  for  which  was  the  indemnities  which  the  state 
had  undertaken  to  pay  in  installments  during  a  period 
of  thirty  years.  It  is  estimated  that  sufficient  funds 
are  available  through  this  loan  to  enable  the  work  to 
proceed  until  the  summer  of  1922. 

M.  Stouvenot,  from  whose  comprehensive  report  the 
preceding  facts  are  drawn,  estimates  that  the  pre-war 
volume  of  production  will  be  reached  at  Anzin  and 
Aniche  at  the  beginning  of  1923,  at  Vicoigne  and 
Azincourt  by  the  middle  of  that  year,  and  at  dates 
subsequent  to  1926  for  various  large  mines  of  the  Pas- 
de-Calais.  The  attainment  of  this  result,  however, 
involves  a  considerable  increase  in  personnel.  Taking 
into  account  the  lessened  production  due  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  eight-hour  day  or  forty-eight-hour 
week,  the  labor  supply  of  the  entire  northern  coal  area, 
which  before  the  war  was  about  130,000,  must  rise  to 
200,000.  This  means  among  other  things  the  erection 
of  about  50,000  additional  houses  at  a  cost  of  1,500,- 
000,000  francs.  The  interest  on  this  sum  at  six  per 
cent.,  apportioned  to  the  annual  pre-war  production 
of  27,500,000  tons  for  the  whole  basin,  would  raise  the 
production  cost  of  coal  more  than  three  francs  per  ton. 

Taking  all  these  various  facts  into  consideration,  it 
is  the  conclusion  of  M.  Stouvenot  that  the  work  of 
reconstituting  the  coal-mining  industry  had  been  at 
the  end  of  May,  1921,  about  one-fourth  achieved.  As 
the  work  of  restoration  since  that  date  has  continued 


148  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

without  interruption,  the  percentage  of  reconstruction 
accomplished  should  have  undergone  considerable  in- 
crease by  the  time  this  chapter  is  in  print. 

The  remarkable  progress  which  some  of  the  mining 
companies  have  made  can  best  be  illustrated  by  some 
extracts  from  the  report  of  the  Aniche  company  for 
the  year  1920,  submitted  to  the  stockholders  on  June  7, 
1921.1  The  Aniche  concession,  while  one  of  the  largest 
in  area,  was  not  the  most  productive,  its  output  of  coal 
in  1913  having  been  exceeded  by  that  of  the  concessions 
of  Lens,  Anzin,  Courrieres,  Bethune,  and  Bruay.  The 
company  was  reorganized  as  a  joint-stock  company  in 

1920,  and  the  report  accordingly  covers  the  first  year's 
operations  under  the  new  form.  The  net  profits  for 
the  year  were  7,210,958  francs.  The  valuation  of  the 
real  property  of  the  company  on  December  31,  1920, 
was  110,961,455  francs,  while  the  capital  had  been 
increased  during  the  year  from  124,480,000  francs  to 
160,000,000  francs.  The  larger  part  of  the  cost  of 
reconstruction,  aggregating  144,744,420  francs,  had 
been  met  by  indemnities,  but  the  company  had  also 
participated  in  the  loan  issued  jointly  by  the  mines 
of  the  Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais.  The  production 
of  coal,  which  in  1919  amounted  to  113,915  tons, 
reached  586,005  tons  in  1920;  for  the  month  of  April, 

1921,  the  output  was  100,392  tons,  or  about  fifty  per 
cent,  of  the  monthly  average  before  the  war. 

The  council  of  the  company  reported  that  the  re- 
equipment  of  all  the  locations  would  be  practically 
complete  by  the  end  of  1921.    All  the  ruins  had  been 

1  Published  in  extended  summary  in  the  Cote  Desfosses  (Paris), 
November  25,  1921. 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  MINES        149 

cleared  except  the  coke  ovens,  and  the  clearing  of  these 
was  not  important  because  new  ovens  had  been  built 
elsewhere.  All  the  buildings  had  been  repaired  or  re- 
placed and  all  the  boilers  restored.  Seventeen  metal 
hoists,  three  hoists  of  reenforced  concrete,  and  five  pro- 
visional hoists  of  wood  had  been  erected,  and  the  full 
equipment  of  ventilators  would  soon  be  working.  The 
linings  of  24  out  of  28  pits,  with  a  combined  length  of 
9,866  metres,  had  been  replaced  and  the  remainder 
nearly  completed.  At  nine  of  the  twelve  locations  the 
pits  had  been  freed  from  water.  Of  350  kilometres  of 
galleries  113  kilometres  had  been  repaired;  the  more 
difficult  part  of  this  work,  however,  remained  to  be 
done.  The  briquette  works  had  been  restored  to  pre- 
war capacity,  with  a  record  of  production  of  97,272 
tons  in  1920  as  compared  with  8,371  tons  in  1919.  All 
the  railway  lines  had  been  reestablished  arid  27  loco- 
motives and  1,500  cars  were  in  use.  Workingmen's 
houses  to  the  number  of  3,340  had  been  completely 
repaired  and  600  houses  were  under  construction,  all 
of  the  company  hospitals  were  ready  for  use,  and  a 
bacteriological  laboratory  was  being  reconstituted. 

The  iron  deposits  of  Lorraine  lie  mainly  along  the 
former  northeastern  frontier  of  France  from  Metz  to 
Longwy,  with  a  length  from  north  to  south  of  about 
forty  kilometres  and  an  average  width  from  east  to 
west  of  about  twenty-five  kilometres.  Small  portions 
of  the  deposit  extend  into  Belgium  and  Luxembourg; 
the  remainder  is  divided  about  equally  between  the 
former  Lorraine  and  the  French  department  of 
Meurthe-et-Moselle,  forming  in  the  latter  department 
two  subdivisions,  those  of  Briey  and  Thionville.    To 


150  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  north  and  east  the  deposit  ends  abruptly  with  the 
valley  of  the  Moselle;  to  the  south  its  disappearance 
is  gradual.  The  Nancy  basin,  separated  from  the 
northern  area  by  a  zone  about  forty  kilometres  in 
width,  contains  less  than  two  hundred  square  kilo- 
metres as  compared  with  approximately  one  thousand 
square  kilometres  in  the  Metz-Longwy  region,  and 
is  relatively  less  valuable  because  the  ore  layers  are 
thinner.  The  iron  ore  of  Lorraine  is  commonly  known 
as  "minette,"  a  diminutive  denoting  ore  of  less  than 
average  quality. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  eighteen  mines  were  in 
operation  in  the  Briey  basin  and  fifteen  mines  in  the 
basin  of  Longwy.  The  output  of  the  Briey  basin  in 
1913  was  15,104,000  tons,  of  the  Longwy  basin  2,958,000 
tons.  In  the  first  months  of  1914,  before  the  German 
occupation,  the  two  basins  together  produced  10,- 
300,000  tons.  The  Briey  mines  employed  about 
15,000  men  in  1913  and  the  Longwy  mines  about  3,000. 

The  iron  mines  were  worked  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  by  the  Germans  throughout  the  war.  The 
annual  production  of  ore,  'however,  did  not  on  the 
average  exceed  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  pre-war  figures. 
The  largest  production  was  in  1917,  when  5,500,000 
tons  were  extracted;  in  1918,  until  the  armistice,  the 
amount  was  4,700,000  tons.  Considerable  injury  was 
done  by  neglect  or  careless  handling,  water  accumu- 
lated, and  many  shafts  and  galleries  caved  or  sank.  In 
the  end  the  mines  were  stripped  of  most  of  the  equip- 
ment that  could  be  removed.  Electrical  machinery, 
boilers,  compressors,  and  rolling  stock  were  carried 
away,  as  were  also  tools  and  usable  metal.    To  this 


THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  MINES        151 

was  to  be  added  some  injury  due  to  bombardment  or 
other  military  operations. 

In  comparison  with  the  coal  mines,  however,  the 
damage  in  many  instances  was  small.  In  the  mines  of 
the  Longwy  company,  occupying  a  concession  of  1,660 
hectares  and  producing  before  the  war  1,500,000  tons 
of  ore  annually,  there  was  no  loss  from  bombardment, 
but  most  of  the  installations  had  to  be  replaced  and 
many  employees'  houses  required  repair.  At  the 
Anderny-Chevillon  mines  the  trolley  lines,  rails,  and 
engines  were  removed,  but  the  pumps  were  kept  work- 
ing and  the  general  injury  was  not  great.  The  Landres 
mines  suffered  principally  from  water.  At  Amermont- 
Dommary,  on  the  other  hand,  most  of  the  surface 
equipment  was  destroyed,  and  the  water  in  the  pits 
rose  to  within  fifty  yards  of  the  surface.  At  Home- 
court,  where  the  pre-war  output  was  1,800,000  tons 
annually,  the  galleries  opened  by  the  Germans  required 
extensive  reconstruction.  The  Jarny  mines  lost  the 
larger  part  of  their  installations,  the  central  power 
station  had  to  be  rebuilt,  and  120  employees'  houses 
suffered  from  bombardment. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  reconstruction  was  to 
keep  the  mines  free  from  water.  Of  the  thirty-one 
mines  only  three  had  actually  been  flooded,  but  in  the 
others  many  of  the  pumps  were  defective,  reserve 
pumps  had  disappeared,  and  in  1919-1920  there  was  a 
serious  shortage  of  coal.  Fortunately,  an  electric  trans- 
port line  connecting  the  central  works  of  most  of  the 
mines  had  been  constructed  by  the  Germans,  and  this 
line,  which  served  to  replace  local  lines  that  had  been 
destroyed,  helped  out  the  scanty  stocks  of  coal.    One 


kj 


152  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  the  new  plans  of  reconstruction  is  the  installation  of 
a  great  electrical  power  system  in  which  all  the  mines 
will  share,  and  which  will  dispense  with  the  use  of  coal 
by  utilizing  the  power  from  the  furnaces. 

In  November,  1920,  two  years  after  the  armistice, 
the  mines  of  the  Briey  district  produced  365,422  tons 
of  ore,  those  of  the  Longwy  district  82,941  tons;  a  total 
of  448,363  tons  for  the  two  basins.  This  was  at  the 
rate  of  5,380,356  tons  a  year,  or  about  thirty  per  cent, 
of  the  pre-war  figure. 

Comprehensive  figures  showing  the  revival  of  metal- 
lurgical industries  and  gas  plants  are  not  available  for 
a  later  date  than  1920.  By  November  of  that  year  27 
blast  furnaces  out  of  67  that  had  been  wholly  or  par- 
tially destroyed  had  been  reconstructed,  with  a  capacity 
of  about  1,400,000  tons  of  pig  iron  per  annum.  In 
twenty  furnaces  under  construction  it  was  planned  to 
use  electricity  instead  of  coke.  The  number  of  iron 
foundries  destroyed  or  damaged  was  275  out  of  a  total 
of  302 ;  at  the  end  of  1920,  265  had  resumed  operations 
in  whole  or  in  part.  The  revival  of  the  copper  industry 
is  shown  by  115  plants  rebuilt  out  of  136  destroyed  or 
injured.  Of  the  200  gas  plants  in  the  invaded  depart- 
ments, three-fourths  were  entirely  destroyed.  By  the 
end  of  1920,  52  plants  had  been  restored  and  were 
operating  at  pre-war  capacity,  and  42  others  were 
supplying  about  one-half  of  the  quantity  of  gas  fur- 
nished before  the  war.  The  place  of  some  forty  other 
plants  which  are  not  to  be  rebuilt  will  be  taken  by 
works  using  water  power. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE 

The  restoration  of  agriculture  in  the  invaded  depart- 
ments presents  a  number  of  features  quite  different 
from  those  which  characterized  the  reconstruction  of 
railways,  factories,  and  mines.  For  one  thing,  agri- 
cultural production  was  never  entirely  suspended  even 
in  the  war  zone.  In  spite  of  the  general  exodus  of 
population,  the  destruction  of  farm  buildings,  the 
appropriation  of  crops  and  cattle  by  the  Germans  in 
the  regions  which  they  occupied,  and  the  necessary 
overrunning  of  fields,  orchards,  and  pastures  by  the 
French  and  Allied  armies,  many  farmers  continued  to 
work  their  land  even  when  the  land  itself  was  actually 
under  fire.  The  sight  of  peasants  plowing,  cultivating, 
or  harvesting  within  sight  of  trenches  and  batteries, 
undisturbed  by  shells  which  occasionally  exploded 
near  by,  was  not  at  all  uncommon  in  localities  close  to 
the  front.  On  the  other  hand,  comparatively  few 
farmers  possessed  reserves  of  capital  or  savings  upon 
which  they  could  draw  after  the  war,  and  fewer  still 
could  offer  anything  save  their  land  as  security  for 
loans,  at  the  same  time  that  their  intense  individualism 
and  independent  temper  made  cooperation  for  any 
purpose  extremely  difficult.  The  losses  of  war,  accord- 
ingly, fell  with  peculiar  severity  upon  a  class  which,  in 
addition  to  lack  of  capital  and  a  cooperative  spirit, 

153 

0 


154  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

could  not  begin  to  work  until  the  land  itself  had  been 
restored  by  herculean  effort,  and  which  even  then  could 
not  proceed  until  tools,  horses,  seed,  and  food  had  been 
supplied. 

The  position  taken  by  the  government  with  reference 
to  the  reconstitution  of  agriculture  has  already  been 
indicated  in  a  general  way  in  the  account  that  has  been 
given  of  the  organization  of  reconstruction  and  the 
provision  for  the  payment  of  war  damages.  In  prin- 
ciple, agriculture  took  its  place  with  other  industries 
and  other  forms  of  property.  What  had  been  lost  was 
to  be  restored,  indemnities  were  to  be  based  upon 
valuations  in  1914  plus  the  cost  of  replacement  if  the 
indemnity  was  to  be  reemployed,  advances  in  money 
and  kind  were  to  be  extended,  and  the  primary  cost  of 
clearing  and  leveling  the  land  was  to  be  borne  by  the 
state.  There  remain  to  be  traced  the  steps  made  neces- 
sary by  the  special  nature  of  agriculture  as  an  industry 
and  by  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  farmers  themselves. 

Partly  with  a  view  to  making  good  the  serious  lack 
of  horses  and  oxen  for  farm  work,  but  also  with  the 
object  of  increasing  the  deficient  national  stock  of  food, 
the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  early  exerted  itself  to  obtain 
a  supply  of  tractors.  The  machines  were  at  first  fur- 
nished to  departments,  communes,  and  agricultural 
societies  by  means  of  a  subvention  equal  to  one-half 
of  the  purchase  price.  On  May  15,  1917,  authority  was 
given  to  the  local  governments  and  agricultural  soci- 
eties to  cede  the  tractors  on  the  same  terms  to  indi- 
vidual farmers  who  were  entitled  to  war  damages,  on 
condition  that  the  farmer  should  undertake  to  plant 
during  the  following  year  at  least  fifty  hectares  of 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  155 

wheat  or  one  hundred  hectares  of  various  cereals.  This 
was  followed  on  July  16  by  instructions  to  the  prefects 
to  grant  advances  to  agricultural  sinistres  to  an  amount 
not  exceeding  four  hundred  francs  for  each  hectare 
capable  of  being  brought  under  cultivation.  In  addi- 
tion, the  preliminary  estimates  of  damages  in  the  case 
of  such  sinistres  might  be  increased  twenty  per  cent. 
These  advances,  intended  to  enable  the  sinistre  to  use 
the  tools,  seed,  etc.,  with  which  he  had  been  furnished 
until  he  could  harvest  a  crop,  were  to  be  charged  against 
the  credit  of  300,000,000  francs  already  opened  for 
general  reconstruction  purposes.  Additional  credits  for 
the  purchase  and  cession  of  materials  were  voted  by 
the  chambers  in  August. 

The  latter  month  saw  also  the  creation  within  the 
Ministry  of  War  of  a  special  soil  restoration  service, 
already  referred  to,  intended  to  be  attached  later  to 
the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  when  the  purely  military 
part  of  the  work  had  been  completed,  but  actually  in 
October  transferred  to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works 
and  Transport.  In  October  the  office  of  agricultural 
reconstruction  was  reorganized  under  an  administrative 
council  whose  membership  included  representatives  of 
numerous  agricultural  associations.  In  November  this 
office  was  given  control  of  all  the  agricultural  restora- 
tion work  throughout  the  invaded  departments. 

The  pressing  needs  of  the  farmers,  joined  to  the  fact 
that  the  legal  provisions  for  the  adjustment  of  war 
damages  were  still  under  debate  in  the  Senate  and 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  necessitated  repeated  extensions 
of  credit  for  the  purchase  of  materials,  farm  animals, 
and    seed.    These    credits   eventually   reached    large 


156  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

amounts.  Thus  on  February  8,  1918,  advances  to 
agricultural  societies  were  authorized  of  200,000  francs 
when  the  society  comprised  only  a  canton,  400,000 
francs  when  it  included  an  arrondissement,  and  800,000 
francs  when  its  operations  extended  over  a  department. 
A  decree  of  April  25,  1919,  increased  the  total  advances 
to  1,500,000  francs,  while  on  June  3  the  amounts  were 
raised  to  1,000,000  francs  for  societies  covering  an 
arrondissement  and  5,000,000  francs  for  societies  which 
included  a  department.  The  use  of  tractors  was  in- 
creasing, but  it  was  not  increasing  fast  enough,  and  at 
the  end  of  November,  1918,  a  special  committee  was 
created  to  investigate  the  whole  question  of  agricul- 
tural machinery  and  tools,  to  study  the  needs  of  each 
region,  to  devise  means  of  increasing  the  use  of  me- 
chanical appliances  and  of  training  workers  to  operate 
and  repair  them,  and  to  stimulate  the  improvement  of 
existing  models  and  the  creation  of  new  and  better 
ones. 

One  of  the  special  embarrassments  of  sinistres  was 
the  fact  that  they  were  not  permitted  to  borrow  on 
the  security  of  future  indemnities,  but  were  dependent 
upon  government  advances  which  were  not  only  ir- 
regular, but  which  were  also  in  many  cases  less  than 
might  have  been  secured  by  loans.  The  prohibition 
was  doubtless  intended  to  protect  the  sinistre  as  well 
as  to  protect  the  state,  and  it  probably  would  not  have 
occasioned  much  controversy  if  the  cantonal  commis- 
sions had  dealt  promptly  with  the  evaluation  of  dam- 
ages, but  in  practice  it  often  worked  hardship.  A  law 
of  June  21,  1919,  relieved  the  situation  somewhat  by 
allowing  cooperative  agricultural  societies  in  the  in- 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  157 

vaded  departments  to  receive  from  the  state  advances 
in  money  or  kind  to  an  amount  equal  to  five  times  their 
capital  stock.  The  privileges  of  the  law  were  also 
extended  to  free  syndicates  engaged  in  hydraulic  or 
other  work  for  the  benefit  of  agriculture,  and  to  artisans 
in  rural  communities  who  belonged  to  local  agricultural 
societies.  The  proceeds  of  such  advances  were  to 
be  used  only  for  the  purchase  and  distribution  of 
machinery,  tools,  seed,  and  other  supplies,  and  for  fur- 
thering the  sale  of  farm  products. 

The  purchase  of  equipment  and  supplies  through 
societies  or  other  third  parties,  on  account  of  war  in- 
demnities, gave  rise  to  numerous  difficulties  and  to 
some  abuses.  Sinistres  complained  that  they  were  cut 
off  from  buying  on  better  terms  at  fairs  or  markets,  and 
that  new  purchase  had  sometimes  to  be  made  before 
existing  accounts  could  be  settled.1  To  put  an  end  to 
these  troubles  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions, 
under  whose  jurisdiction  agricultural  reconstruction 
had  now  passed,  extended  to  the  sinistres  in  August 
the  option  of  making  purchases  directly  or  through 
agencies.  In  the  former  case  the  sinistre  called  upon 
the  prefect  for  such  advances  as  were  due,  assurance 
being  required  that  the  articles  to  be  purchased  would 
be  used  within  two  months.  As  the  local  agricultural 
societies  and  the  Central  Purchasing  Agency  had  the 
larger  stocks  and  could  make  quicker  delivery,  the 
majority  of  purchases  continued  to  be  made  through 
them. 

One  of  the  most  important  tasks  of  agricultural 
restoration  was  the  replenishment  of  the  depleted  stock 

1  Circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  August  2,  1919. 


158  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats.  In  April,  1919,  an  agree- 
ment was  entered  into  between  France  and  Luxem- 
bourg for  the  purchase  in  the  latter  country  of  6,000 
head  of  cattle,  in  return  for  which  France  undertook 
to  furnish  Luxembourg  with  1,200  tons  of  refrigerated 
beef.  The  cattle  thus  obtained  were  distributed  to 
the  departments  of  the  Aisne,  the  Marne,  the  Ardennes, 
the  Meuse,  and  Meurthe-et-Moselle.  Of  the  6,128 
head  actually  purchased,  only  one  died  in  transit.  The 
cost  of  the  cattle,  not  counting  transport,  disinfection, 
and  similar  expenses,  was  6,357,276  francs.  The  aver- 
age cost  per  head  to  the  French  farmers,  charged 
against  their  war  indemnities,  was  1,037.40  francs,  to 
which  was  added  from  50  to  100  francs,  according  to  the 
prices  paid  in  Luxembourg,  to  cover  transport  and 
other  outlays. 

In  May  and  June  7,261  head  of  cattle  were  imported 
from  Switzerland,  at  an  average  price  to  the  French 
farmers  of  2,235  francs  per  head.  These  were  dis- 
tributed to  the  same  departments  to  which  the  Luxem- 
bourg cattle  had  been  allotted,  with  the  addition  of 
the  Vosges.  The  number  was  increased  in  July  and 
August  by  6,997  head  purchased  in  Holland;  these  were 
allotted  to  the  Aisne,  the  Ardennes,  the  Meuse,  the 
Nord,  the  Oise,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  the  Somme. 
The  first  shipment  of  American  cattle,  under  a  contract 
concluded  on  April  12  with  private  parties,  arrived  on 
August  15,  and  down  to  October  15  7,912  head  had 
been  received.  The  American  cattle  were  purchased, 
under  the  oversight  of  a  French  commission,  in  Ver- 
mont, New  York,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and 
Wisconsin,  and  were  distributed  in  France  to  the  Nord, 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  159 

the  Ardennes,  and  Meurthe-et-Moselle.  Some  1,750 
head  of  Algerian  cattle  were  apportioned  to  the  Nord 
and  the  Ardennes,  and  9,804  head  purchased  in  France 
outside  of  the  invaded  area  were  distributed  among 
nine  departments.  All  of  these  allotments  were  made 
on  the  basis  of  the  number  of  cattle  in  the  several 
departments  before  the  war. 

The  replenishment  of  the  stock  of  sheep  was  a  more 
difficult  problem,  partly  because  the  number  of  sheep 
had  been  diminishing  from  various  causes  for  some 
years  before  the  war,  and  partly  because  it  was  un- 
certain what  breed  would  be  likely  to  do  best  with 
such  pasturage  as  was  available.  In  the  course  of  the 
summer  of  1919,  however,  22,796  sheep  were  imported 
from  Algiers  and  allotted  to  the  Aisne,  the  Ardennes, 
the  Marne,  the  Meuse,  the  Nord,  and  the  Pas-de- 
Calais. 

Two  other  sources  of  supply  for  stock  remained. 
Under  pressure  of  the  German  advance  in  the  spring 
of  1918  a  considerable  number  of  head  of  pure-blooded 
stock  had  been  evacuated  from  the  northern  depart- 
ments, special  arrangements  being  made  to  care  for 
them  in  other  parts  of  France.  Beginning  in  January, 
1919,  these  animals  were  returned  and  distributed, 
10,375  head  of  cattle  and  2,676  head  of  sheep  having 
been  brought  back  by  the  end  of  the  year.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  of  the  cattle  and  other  farm  animals 
abandoned  by  the  Germans  or  turned  loose  into  the 
roads  during  the  final  retreat  were  actually  in  Belgium 
or  Lorraine,  where  some  of  them  had  been  appro- 
priated to  make  good  local  losses.  As  identification 
was  difficult  and  inquisitorial  methods  in  Belgium  were 


160  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

not  desirable,  an  agreement  was  made  with  Belgium 
for  the  cession  to  France  of  a  certain  number  of  the 
domestic  animals  of  various  kinds  which,  under  the 
treaty  of  Versailles,  were  to  be  delivered  to  Belgium 
by  Germany.  Some  7,700  head  of  cattle  and  1,500 
horses,  besides  a  few  other  animals,  were  eventually 
obtained  in  this  way.  A  solution  of  the  problem  in 
Lorraine  was  easily  found  because  all  of  the  cattle  in 
question  belonged  to  the  farmers  of  Meurthe-et- 
Moselle  and  had  been  driven  off  only  a  few  days  be- 
fore the  Germans  withdrew.  The  mayors  of  Lorraine 
were  appealed  to,  and  1,116  head  of  pure-blooded  cat- 
tle were  presently  returned.1 

Still  another  important  work  which  was  early  under- 
taken was  the  collection  and'repair  of  the  agricultural 
machinery  abandoned  by  the  refugee  population  or 
left  by  the  Germans  as  their  line  from  time  to  time  re- 
ceded. In  June,  1918,  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions,  with  the  approval  of  the  Ministry  of  Agri- 
culture and  the  Ministry  of  War,  began  the  organiza- 
tion in  each  invaded  department  of  a  repair  service. 
Abandoned  material  of  all  kinds  was  assembled  in 
parks,  and  so  much  of  it  as  could  be  used  was  sent  to 
central  stations  for  repair.  Material  which  could  be 
identified  was  surrendered  to  its  owners  without  fur- 
ther formality  than  the  filing  of  a  record  with  the  pre- 
fect, the  value  of  the  material  being  in  such  cases 
deducted  from  the  estimates  of  war  damages.  Mate- 
rial whose  owners  were  unknown  was  ceded  to  sinistres 
through  the  medium  of  agricultural  societies  or  other 

1  The  question  of  cattle  and  sheep  is  treated  in  a  series  of  interest- 
ing articles  in  the  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberees,  October-November, 
1919. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  161 

authorized  agencies.  In  December,  1919,  notwith- 
standing that  great  quantities  of  material  had  been 
disposed  of  or  was  still  in  process  of  restoration,  there 
still  remained  fifty-nine  parks  in  nine  departments. 
In  the  Nord,  where  twelve  such  parks  were  to  be 
found,  the  value  of  the  assembled  material  was  esti- 
mated at  over  3,560,000  francs.  Thirty  repair  shops 
operated  by  the  ministry  had  already  put  in  order 
more  than  45,000  pieces  of  agricultural  machinery,  in 
addition  to  what  had  been  treated  in  fifty-two  private 
establishments  working  under  contract. 

Charges  made  later  that  the  work  of  repair  was  not 
being  carried  to  completion  and  that  large  quantities 
of  material  were  being  left  to  spoil,  while  in  some  in- 
stances apparently  well  founded,  lose  some  of  their 
weight  when  it  is  remembered  that  many  sinistres  who 
were  able  to  do  so  preferred  to  buy  new  equipment, 
with  the  result  that  the  market  for  renovated  ma- 
chinery became  somewhat  overstocked,  and  that  delays 
in  the  payment  of  indemnities  kept  the  volume  of  pur- 
chases of  agricultural  appliances  below  the  supply.  In 
this  connection  it  may  be  noted  that  about  2,100  trac- 
tors were  bought  in  1919  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions. 

Beyond  the  provision  of  implements  and  seed  and 
the  replenishment  of  the  stock  of  cattle,  it  was  neces- 
sary also  to  provide  labor  for  harvesting,  and  buildings 
or  other  protection  for  the  crops.  Replying  on  June 
29,  1920,  to  an  interpellation  on  the  subject  in  the 
Senate,  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  stated 
that  the  construction  of  hangars  was  being  pushed 
with  all  possible  speed,  that  all  available  military 


162  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

hangars  and  other  suitable  buildings  would  be  used,  and 
that  1,100,000  square  metres  of  canvas  covers  had  been 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  farmers.  Horses  and 
wagons  attached  to  other  services  were  being  freed  for 
use  in  harvesting.  An  anticipated  supply  of  labor 
from  Poland  had  been  delayed  because  of  the  military 
situation  in  that  country,  but  the  lack  would  be  in 
part  met  by  the  temporary  employment  of  soldiers, 
for  whose  release  the  Ministry  of  War  had  already 
given  authorization. 

A  few  days  later,  on  July  2,  two  members  of  the 
Agricultural  Academy  of  France  reported  the  results 
of  their  inspection  of  the  invaded  area.1  The  larger 
number  of  the  holders  of  farms  had  returned.  In  the 
Somme,  of  190,000  hectares  of  cultivable  land  requir- 
ing restoration  in  1919,  at  least  90,000  hectares  had 
been  planted  and  65,000  hectares  would  be  available 
by  the  end  of  the  year.  The  restoration  of  the  soil  was 
less  advanced  in  the  Pas-de-Calais,  where  about  46,000 
hectares  out  of  a  total  of  138,000  were  in  crops  and 
50,000  hectares  were  being  put  in  condition.  In  the 
Nord,  on  the  other  hand,  between  ninety  and  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  arable  land  was  under  cultivation, 
although  the  orchards  needed  much  attention  and  the 
replacement  of  stock  was  making  slow  progress.  In 
the  Aisne  192,400  hectares  were  producing  cereals  or 
forage  crops.  In  the  Ardennes,  where  a  cultivated  area 
of  195,000  hectares  in  1912  had  fallen  to  34,000  hec- 
tares in  1919,  95,000  hectares  were  in  crops  in  1920, 
and  133,000  head  of  cattle,  as  compared  with  365,000 
head  in  1912,  were  being  pastured.  The  Meuse,  one 
of  the  poorest  departments  in  1912  from  an  agricul- 

1  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberies,  August  2,  1920. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  163 

tural  point  of  view,  showed  63,290  hectares  under 
cultivation  and  62,300  hectares  cleared  and  leveled, 
out  of  a  total  of  166,000  hectares  of  arable  land  in 
1912.  In  the  Marne  about  63,000  hectares  had  been 
restored. 

This  much  the  government  and  the  farmers  had 
achieved  in  less  than  two  years  after  the  armistice. 

Financial  aid  continued  to  be  extended  to  the 
farmers,  either  in  the  form  of  advances  against  in- 
demnities or  in  premiums  for  the  production  of  food 
crops.  In  August,  1920,  a  premium  of  200  francs  per 
hectare  was  offered  for  wheat  in  the  harvest  of  that 
year;  in  July,  1921,  66,994,874  francs  were  appro- 
priated for  premiums  on  wheat  and  other  grains.  TKe 
maximum  of  advances  on  account  of  so-called  revolv- 
ing funds,  to  be  repaid  later  from  installments  of  in- 
demnities, had  been  limited  to  2,000  francs  per  hec- 
tare, or  2,500  francs  per  hectare  in  the  case  of  land 
cultivated  for  industrial  purposes  (for  example,  sugar 
beets).  In  March,  1921,  the  latter  maximum  was  in- 
creased for  certain  difficult  parts  of  the  devastated 
zone  to  3,000  francs  per  hectare.  On  the  other  hand, 
agricultural  sinistres  were  subject  to  an  annual  tax  of 
six  per  cent,  on  profits  of  over  1,500  francs,  profits  be- 
tween 1,500  and  4,000  francs,  however,  being  taxed 
on  one-half  of  their  amount.  A  law  of  June  25,  1920, 
provided  that  the  coefficients  (1,  2,  or  3)  which  had 
been  established  for  determining  the  profits  from  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  land  should  be  reduced  by  75  per  cent, 
in  1920,  50  per  cent,  in  1922,  and  25  per  cent,  in  1923, 
the  reduction  applying  in  each  case  to  the  taxes  of  the 
preceding  year. 

The  application  of  the  law  of  war  damages  to  farm 


164  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

property  presented  many  difficult  problems  in  regard 
to  which  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  not 
seldom  found  itself  in  sharp  opposition  to  the 
sinistres.  In  comparison  with  the  evaluation  of  losses 
occasioned  to  buildings,  in  which  the  evidence  of  in- 
jury was  both  direct  and  apparent,  the  evaluation  of 
injuries  to  the  soil  and  its  products  was  a  complicated 
task.  Numerous  and  diverse  elements  had  to  be  con- 
sidered: injuries  to  the  soil  by  trenches,  shell  fire,  gas, 
or  lack  of  use;  injuries  to  orchards,  vineyards,  wood- 
land, pasturage,  or  water  supply;  losses  of  cattle  or 
other  animals,  of  crops  in  the  ground,  or  of  crops  al- 
ready harvested.  Account  had  to  be  taken  not  only 
of  the  value  of  the  different  parts  of  the  property  in 
1914,  but  also  of  the  cost  of  replacement,  the  latter 
involving  such  scientific  questions  as  the  chemical 
constitution  of  the  soil  after  war  had  passed  over  it,  or 
the  character  and  percentage  of  deterioration  due  to 
weeds  or  other  consequences  of  non-cultivation.  Al- 
lowance had  also  to  be  made  for  crops  raised  during  the 
war,  for  any  work  of  recuperation  done  before  damages 
were  finally  appraised,  for  cattle  or  implements  recov- 
ered from  Germany  or  from  other  departments  or  pro- 
vided by  the  government,  and  for  any  proposed 
changes  in  the  reemployment  of  indemnities  as  com- 
pared with  the  use  of  the  property  before  the  war. 

It  was  in  general  the  policy  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions,  so  far  as  the  work  of  its  technical 
services  was  concerned,  to  evaluate  each  element  of 
damage  separately,  thus  making  the  total  indemnity 
the  sum  of  its  several  parts.  On  the  other  hand,  since 
the  law  contemplated  an  indemnity  for  those  damages 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  165 

only  which  were  direct  and  the  result  of  war,  the  cost 
of  any  restoration  that  could  not  be  classed  under  those 
two  heads  was  regarded  as  an  expense  devolving  solely 
upon  the  proprietor.  The  official  interpretation  of  the 
law  at  this  point  sometimes  made  discriminations 
which  for  a  layman  are  hard  to  understand.  For 
example,  land  which  had  gone  out  of  cultivation  be- 
cause the  farmer  had  been  mobilized,  or  because  farm 
animals,  equipment,  or  even  the  personal  service  of 
the  farmer  had  been  requisitioned  by  the  Germans,  was 
not  regarded  as  having  suffered  any  direct  injury  as  a 
consequence  of  war.  All  that  the  farmer  could  claim 
in  such  cases  was  indemnity  for  the  property  carried 
off  and  not  recovered,  and  for  buildings,  if  any,  that 
had  been  injured  or  destroyed.  The  cantonal  commis- 
sions, while  not  bound  by  the  rulings  of  the  ministry, 
were  as  a  rule  inclined  to  take  the  ministerial  point  of 
view  wherever  by  so  doing  the  claims  of  sinistres  could 
be  reduced. 

In  a  lengthy  circular  to  the  prefects  issued  on  July 
22,  1921,  the  position  of  the  ministry  was  elaborately 
expounded,  with  the  addition  of  a  series  of  tables 
indicating  the  bases  upon  which  the  costs  of  soil  res- 
toration ought  to  be  calculated.  The  figures,  based 
upon  estimated  valuations  in  1914,  varied  according  to 
the  quality  of  the  land  (heavy,  average,  or  light),  the 
number  of  years  during  which  it  had  remained  unculti- 
vated, the  degree  of  intensive  cultivation  (excellent, 
average,  or  mediocre),  and  the  use  of  the  land  for  in- 
dustrial or  general  agricultural  purposes.  The  rulings 
embodied  in  the  circular  were  made  binding  upon  the 
prefects  as  administrative  agents  of  the  ministry,  and 


166  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

those  officials  were  not  only  directed  to  make  no  con- 
cessions and  to  appeal  from  any  decisions  of  a  con- 
trary tenor  rendered  by  the  cantonal  commissions  or 
the  tribunals  of  war  damages,  but  they  were  also  re- 
quested to  bring  the  circular  to  the  attention  of  the 
bodies  just  named. 

The  issuance  of  this  circular,  and  the  action  of  some 
of  the  prefects  under  the  rulings  which  it  embodied, 
gave  rise  to  an  acute  controversy  between  the  sinistres 
and  the  ministry.  As  the  controversy  is  still  going  on, 
judgment  upon  the  merits  of  the  case  may  properly  be 
given  only  with  reserve.  It  may  be  pointed  out,  how- 
ever, that  in  so  far  as  sinistres  are  by  law  denied  in- 
demnity for  losses  which  cannot  be  classed  as  both 
direct  and  the  result  of  war,  the  fundamental  trouble 
would  appear  to  be  with  the  law  rather  than  with 
ministerial  interpretations  of  it,  and  relief  can  be  ob- 
tained only  from  the  Parliament.  At  the  same  time,  it 
does  not  appear  that  any  ministry  has  ever  been  given 
authority  to  make  rulings  which  should  be  binding 
upon  the  commissions  or  tribunals  to  which  is  in- 
trusted the  duty  of  evaluating  war  damages.  The 
instructions  to  the  prefects  to  contest  every  decision 
in  which  the  rulings  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  were  not  observed  would  seem,  accordingly,  to 
be  an  extension  of  administrative  authority  not  easy 
to  justify,  even  if  such  instructions  were  not  them- 
selves questionable  on  the  ground  that  they  tend  to 
retard  a  settlement  which  ought  by  all  possible  means 
to  be  hastened. 

The  ultimate  test  of  any  reconstruction  program 
is,  of  course,  the  work  of  restoration  actually  accom- 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  167 

plished  rather  than  the  regulations  framed,  the 
projects  undertaken,  or  the  controversies  raised  and 
settled.  Judged  by  this  standard,  the  record  of  agri- 
cultural reconstruction  in  France  merits  high  praise. 
Figures  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  land  has  been 
cleared  of  barbed  wire  and  other  military  encumbrances 
and  trenches  rilled  have  been  given  in  an  earlier  chap- 
ter. Of  1,851,039  hectares  of  cultivable  land  in  the 
invaded  departments  requiring  restoration,  1,754,693 
hectares  had  been  cleared  and  leveled  down  to  May  1, 
1921,  and  1,384,028  hectares  were  being  worked.  For 
the  harvest  of  1920,  728,232  hectares  of  cereal  crops  had 
been  planted.  Tractors  or  other  forms  of  mechanical 
power  were  used  on  299,227  hectares  for  plowing,  on 
82,627  hectares  for  miscellaneous  work,  on  27,833 
hectares  for  harrowing,  and  on  36,396  hectares  for 
harvesting;  while  the  equivalent  of  2,441  working  days 
had  been  devoted  to  threshing  grain.  The  number  of 
cattle  carried  off  or  turned  loose  by  the  Germans  was 
estimated  at  523,000,  the  number  of  sheep  and  goats 
at  469,000,  and  the  number  of  horses  and  mules  at 
367,000.  Of  this  total  loss  of  1,359,000  head,  120,263 
head  of  cattle,  121,164  sheep  and  goats,  and  96,303 
horses  and  mules  had  been  recovered  from  Germany 
or  Belgium  or  had  been  obtained  through  purchase  or 
gift.  The  so-called  revolving  fund  available  for  agri- 
cultural sinistres,  advanced  by  the  state  on  account  of 
damages  which  the  cantonal  commissions  had  evalu- 
ated, aggregated  on  May  1,  1921,  1,369,538,299  francs. 
To  these  specific  figures  are  to  be  added  the  share  of 
the  farmers  in  houses  and  farm  buildings  permanently 
constructed  and  temporary  buildings  supplied,  great 


168  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

quantities  of  seed  furnished,  wells  cleaned  or  rebuilt, 
labor  supplied  through  government  effort,  2,511,937 
francs  advanced  for  the  purchase  of  food,  and  special 
priorities  for  transport  of  agricultural  supplies  by  rail. 
The  forests  of  the  war  zone,  the  restoration  of  which 
is  in  charge  of  a  special  bureau  of  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture,  cover  an  area  of  about  650,000  hectares. 
To  these  are  to  be  added  considerable  areas  which, 
while  outside  of  the  war  zone,  are  within  the  official 
limits  of  the  liberated  regions.  The  losses  were  very 
heavy.  Many  of  the  forests  were  entirely  destroyed  by 
shell  fire,  the  trees  that  were  left  standing  having  no 
value  except  for  fuel;  others  were  leveled  to  supply 
wood  for  trenches,  defensive  works,  huts,  or  other  mili- 
tary uses;  still  others  were  seriously  injured  by  care- 
less or  wasteful  cutting  practiced  both  by  the  Germans 
and  by  the  French.  A  survey  of  the  forests  made  in 
1919  showed  about  100,000  hectares  in  which  the  soil 
required  to  be  reconstituted,  100,000  hectares  in  need 
of  replanting  or  reseeding,  and  150,000  hectares  which 
had  suffered  from  careless  cutting.  None  of  these  350,- 
000  hectares,  it  was  estimated,  would  be  in  condition 
to  produce  timber  in  less  than  sixty  years.  The  loss  in 
production  was  estimated  at  about  four  per  cent,  of  the 
total  French  production  before  the  war.  The  actual 
effect  of  the  losses  upon  the  available  timber  supply 
was  greater  than  the  percentage  figure  appears  to  show 
because  of  the  extraordinary  demand  after  the  war 
for  timber  for  reconstruction,  for  the  reconstitution  of 
railways,  highways,  and  canals,  for  the  restoration  of 
the  mines,  and  for  the  replacement  of  commercial 
stocks  which  had  been  destroyed. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  169 

The  reconstruction  work  of  the  forestry  service,  car- 
ried on  through  special  services  organized  in  each  de- 
partment, includes  the  filling  of  trenches  and  other 
excavations,  the  removal  of  barbed  wire  and  debris, 
the  replanting  of  trees,  the  establishment  of  nurseries 
along  the  line  of  the  front,  and  experiments  with  new 
species.  A  considerable  number  of  young  trees  grown 
in  the  Aisne,  the  fruit  of  25,000,000  seeds  presented  to 
the  government  in  1920  by  the  American  Forestry 
Association,  will  be  ready  for  transplanting  in  1923. 
The  Chemin  des  Dames  and  the  forest  of  St.  Mihiel 
are  among  the  districts  to  which  these  American  trees 
will  be  sent. 

The  evaluation  of  forest  damages  presented  both 
novel  and  delicate  problems.  In  general,  the  destruc- 
tion of  trees  might  be  compared  to  the  destruction  of 
buildings,  but  with  the  important  difference  that  the 
effects  of  injuries  suffered  could  not  always  be  readily 
perceived,  and  that  the  restoration  of  forests  to  their 
pre-war  condition  was  a  work  of  many  years.  Losses 
due  to  artillery  fire  or  other  military  operations  were 
particularly  serious  because  they  involved  the  destruc- 
tion or  injury  of  young  trees,  the  destruction  or  dimi- 
nution of  the  lumber  cut  for  years  to  come,  and  the 
contamination  of  healthy  trees  by  wounded  trees  left 
standing.  The  range  of  gunfire  was  wide,  and  trees 
many  kilometres  distant  from  the  actual  front  were 
often  injured.  The  award  of  damages  had  to  take 
account  of  the  value  of  standing  timber,  the  value 
which  growing  trees  would  have  had  as  lumber  had 
they  reached  maturity,  the  value  of  cut  lumber  in  the 
forests,  of  timber  and  firewood  requisitioned,  and  of 


170  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

buildings,  roads,  drains,  etc.,  destroyed  within  the  for- 
est limits.  About  one-half  of  the  devastated  forest 
area  was  owned  by  private  parties,  and  since  a  forest 
represents  both  capital  and  revenue,  the  owners  were 
entitled  to  damages  not  only  for  trees  and  lumber 
destroyed,  but  also  for  the  loss  of  revenue  during  the 
period  required  for  restoration.  A  fourth  of  the  forests 
were  the  property  of  departments  or  communes,  which 
derived  a  revenue  from  the  sale  of  timber  and  firewood, 
and  departments  and  communes  were  obviously  en- 
titled to  standing  as  sinistres. 

A  circular  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions, 
November  8,  1920,  directed  that  the  dossiers  of  dam- 
ages to  departmental  or  communal  forests,  or  to  those 
belonging  to  hospitals,  asylums,  or  other  public  insti- 
tutions, should  not  be  prepared  by  the  representatives 
of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  attached  to  the  can- 
tonal commissions  as  technical  advisers,  but  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  forestry  service  of  the  latter  ministry. 
Private  owners,  on  the  other  hand,  were  forbidden  to 
call  upon  the  forestry  service  for  assistance,  but  were 
left  to  rely  upon  unofficial  experts.  The  purpose  of 
the  circular  was  not,  of  course,  to  embarrass  the  pri- 
vate owner,  but  to  secure  for  the  departments  and 
communes  the  whole  time  of  the  government  experts. 
Obviously,  however,  the  discrimination  was  likely  to 
increase  rather  than  diminish  controversies  before  the 
cantonal  commissions,  and  to  delay  still  further  the 
settlement  with  individual  sinistres.  Complaints  have 
been  numerous  that  the  slowness  of  the  cantonal  com- 
missions in  all  cases  in  which  expert  appraisal  of  dam- 
ages was  involved  bore  hard  upon  the  owners  of 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  AGRICULTURE  171 

forest  land,  many  of  whom  were  for  this  reason  pre- 
vented from  developing  their  properties  or  from  con- 
tinuing the  employment  of  labor  after  the  harvesting 
season  had  closed.  As  late  as  September,  1921,  how- 
ever, the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  could  give 
no  better  assurance  than  that  the  prefects  would  be 
asked  to  urge  prompt  action  in  all  damage  claims  in- 
volving expert  appraisal.1 

1  Letter  of  the  Minister  to  the  Marquis  de  Lubersac,  senator  from 
the  Aisne,  in  the  Journal  des  Regions  Devastees,  September  18,  1921. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   PROBLEM   OF  FINANCE 

It  was  clear  from  the  outset  that  the  problem  of 
reconstruction,  under  whatever  form  it  might  be  pre- 
sented, resolved  itself  in  the  final  analysis  into  a 
problem  of  finance.  Ultimately,  it  was  hoped,  the 
cost  of  restoring  the  liberated  regions  would  be  recov- 
ered from  Germany,  but  until  the  German  indemnities 
were  actually  paid  the  success  of  the  reconstruction 
program  depended  upon  the  ability  of  the  French 
government  to  find  the  money  necessary  to  put  indus- 
try, agriculture,  and  social  life  in  general  upon  their 
feet.  In  practice  three  different  lines  of  procedure 
were  followed.  In  the  first  place,  the  government 
assumed  as  a  general  charge,  to  be  borne  by  the  state 
rather  than  by  the  invaded  departments,  the  entire 
cost  of  clearing  the  ruins  and  freeing  the  land  from 
the  traces  of  war,  together  with  the  expenses  of  ad- 
ministering the  reconstruction  service.  Secondly,  ad- 
vances of  money,  materials,  or  labor  were  made  to  the 
sinistres,  such  advances  being  on  the  one  hand  charged 
against  the  complete  indemnities  eventually  to  be 
awarded,  and  on  the  other  included  in  the  total  of 
reparations  which  Germany  was  expected  to  pay.  The 
third  part  of  the  program,  adopted  much  later  than 
the  other  two  parts,  was  that  which  authorized  com- 
munes and  other  sinistres  to  borrow  in  open  market  on 
their  own  account. 

172 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  173 

Some  of  the  financial  measures  adopted  by  the  gov- 
ernment have  already  been  referred  to  in  the  chapters 
dealing  with  the  law  of  war  damages  and  the  recon- 
struction of  industry  and  agriculture.  The  extension 
of  financial  aid  to  particular  classes  of  sinistres  was, 
however,  only  a  special  phase  of  a  general  policy  to 
which  the  government,  notwithstanding  some  hesita- 
tion and  irregularity,  on  the  whole  adhered.  It  is  the 
leading  features  of  that  policy  that  have  now  to  be 
outlined. 

The  beginning  of  financial  aid  to  the  invaded  regions 
dates  from  December  26,  1914,  when  a  credit  of  300,- 
000,000  francs  was  opened  with  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior.  This  fund,  created  at  a  time  when  the  war 
had  only  just  begun  and  when  its  ultimate  ravages 
were  but  dimly  apprehended,  remained  for  many 
months  the  only  source  from  which  the  general  needs 
of  reconstruction  could  be  supplied.  Not  until  the 
evaluation  of  war  damages  was  well  under  way  and  the 
reconstruction  of  industry  had  begun  to  take  form 
were  larger  additional  credits  provided.  The  first  of 
these  larger  credits  was  opened  on  February  11,  1919, 
for  the  purpose  of  retiring  the  loans  contracted  dur- 
ing the  war  by  cities,  communes,  regional  unions  of 
communes,  chambers  of  commerce,  and  savings  banks. 
The  amount  made  available  for  this  purpose  was  1,500,- 
000,000  francs,  a  part  of  the  local  issues  being  ex- 
changed for  national  currency  and  the  remainder  for 
short  time  national  defense  bonds. 

At  the  moment  of  the  adoption  of  the  war  damages 
law  of  April  17,  1919,  no  less  than  nine  different  classes 
of  advances  or  revolving  funds  had  already  been  estab- 


174  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

lished  by  law  or  by  ministerial  decree.    The  provisions 
relating  to  these  several  classes  are  briefly  as  follows: 

1.  Restoration  of  houses  to  habitable  condition.  Ad- 
vances of  money  or  materials  for  urgent  use,  without  limit 
as  to  amount,  were  authorized,  payment  to  be  made  either 
through  the  performance  of  the  necessary  work  by  the  state, 
or  by  the  delivery  of  an  order  for  materials,  or  by  the  pay- 
ment of  money.  Advances  of  this  kind  were  available  for 
industrial  sinistres  as  well  as  for  others. 

2.  Reconstruction  of  buildings.  Advances  were  author- 
ized for  the  restoration  of  either  industrial  or  agricultural 
buildings,  even  if  entirely  destroyed,  where  without  such 
restoration  the  industry  or  occupation  could  not  be  resumed. 
These  advances  were  not  to  exceed,  in  connection  with  other 
advances,  60  per  cent,  of  the  approximate  total  damages. 
Twenty  per  cent,  might  be  paid  in  advance  to  enable  the 
sinistre  to  begin  work. 

3.  Personal  property  of  families.  The  limit  of  advances 
was  fixed  at  1,000  francs  for  the  head  of  a  family  and  200 
francs  for  each  other  member.  These  advances  were  usually 
paid  in  money,  but  might  be  paid  in  kind.  They  could  be 
demanded  whether  the  sinistre  returned  to  the  commune  or 
not. 

4.  Professional  equipment.  Advances  to  an  aggregate  of 
10,000  francs,  but  not  in  excess  of  25  per  cent,  of  the  esti- 
mated damages,  were  allowed  for  instruments,  pharma- 
ceutical supplies,  etc.  Payment  might  be  made  in  either 
money  or  kind. 

5.  Local  mechanics.  The  prefects  were  authorized  to 
grant  advances,  in  money  or  kind,  for  tools  or  other  neces- 
sary equipment. 

6.  Revolving  funds.  The  purpose  of  these  funds,  the 
amounts  of  which  were  reimbursable  out  of  indemnities,  was 
to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  sinistre,  without  interest, 
sufficient  resources  to  enable  him  to  begin  the  work  of 
reconstruction  at  once.  There  were  three  classes  of  bene- 
ficiaries: 

(a)    Farmers.    Advances  were  allowed  to  a  maximum  of 
2,000  francs  per  hectare  for  land  restored  to  cultivation, 
2,500  francs  per  hectare  if  blooded  stock  had  to  be  renewed 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  175 

and  3,000  francs  per  hectare  for  vineyards  whose  cultivation 
was  specially  laborious. 

(b)  Small  merchants  and  manufacturers  and  local  me- 
chanics.  Advances  were  not  in  general  to  exceed  3,000 
francs. 

(c)  Large  manufacturers.  The  basis  of  advances  was 
the  number  of  workers  employed  and  continuous  operation 
for  three  months.  The  allowance  for  each  workman  was 
1,200  francs,  of  which  1,000  francs  was  for  wages.  The 
total  of  all  advances  was  not  to  exceed  75  per  cent,  of  the 
approximate  damages. 

7.  Municipalities.  Unlimited  advances,  approved  by  a 
special  commission,  were  allowed  for  the  replacement  of 
office  fixtures,  vehicles,  appliances  for  fire  protection,  and 
other  necessary  movable  equipment  of  local  government. 

8.  Dossiers  of  damages.  One  per  cent,  of  the  approxi- 
mate amount  involved  was  allowed  for  the  expenses  of 
preparing  dossiers  of  damages,  and  one  per  cent,  for  pre- 
paring the  proposals  for  rebuilding  or  restoration.  Where 
the  sinistre  was  a  cooperative  reconstruction  society  these 
percentages  were  doubled  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a 
revolving  fund. 

9.  Enemy  requisitions.  The  advances  were  not  to  exceed 
75  per  cent,  of  the  amount  involved  as  shown  by  receipts 
or  other  papers. 

In  addition  to  these  various  advances,  sinistres 
whose  damages  had  been  evaluated  by  cantonal  com- 
missions prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  war  damages  law 
of  April  17,  1919,  were  entitled  to  advances  of  not 
exceeding  75  per  cent,  on  those  evaluations,  of  not 
exceeding  90  per  cent,  if  the  sinistre  was  a  cooperative 
reconstruction  society.1 

The  war  damages  law  of  1919  still  further  extended 
the  system  by  authorizing  advances  of  25  per  cent,  of 
the  amount  of  the  indemnity  in  the  case  of  sinistres 
who  proposed  to  reemploy  their  indemnities  and  whose 

1  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberees,  July  21,  1919, 


176  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

claims  had  been  passed  by  the  cantonal  commissions, 
the  advance  to  be  not  less  than  3,000  francs  nor  more 
than  100,000  francs.  The  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  and  the  Minister  of  Finance  acting  jointly 
were  further  empowered  to  grant  other  advances  for 
urgent  needs  on  such  terms  as  they  might  think 
proper. 

The  amounts  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  prefects  in 
the  invaded  departments  for  the  payment  of  advances 
under  these  various  heads  aggregated,  in  the  first  six 
months  of  1919,  753,500,000  francs.  This  figure  does 
not  include  the  value  of  advances  in  kind  made  during 
the  same  period  by  the  offices  of  industrial  and  agri- 
cultural reconstruction. 

Appropriations  and  increases  of  appropriations  fol- 
lowed one  another  with  amazing  rapidity.  On  July 
26,  1919,  the  maximum  of  credits  for  industrial  recon- 
struction, which  three  days  before  had  been  fixed  at 
20,000,000  francs,  was  raised  to  80,000,000  francs,  one- 
half  being  allotted  to  the  Lille  sector,  with  the  further 
proviso  that  if  the  amounts  allotted  to  each  of  the 
other  sectors  proved  insufficient  they  would,  on  the 
application  of  the  prefects,  be  increased  to  20,000,000 
francs.  On  July  15,  50,000,000  francs  were  advanced  to 
the  Central  Purchasing  Agency  (Comptoir  Central 
d' Achats) ;  on  August  25  this  was  increased  to  100,- 
000,000  francs.  The  payment  in  money  of  advances 
on  account  of  war  damages  presently  threatened  to 
involve  a  dangerous  inflation  of  the  currency,  and  in 
November  the  payment  of  three-fourths  of  the  amount 
of  the  large  advances  in  short-time  national  defense 
bonds  was  prescribed. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  177 

With  a  view  to  facilitating  the  payment  of  indemni- 
ties and  advances  an  agreement  was  made  on  July  7, 
1919,  by  the  Minister  of  Finance  with  a  financial  or- 
ganization known  as  the  Credit  National,  under  which 
that  organization  became  the  financial  agent  of  the 
state.  The  Credit  National  undertook  to  pay  all  in- 
demnities awarded  under  the  law  of  war  damages,  to- 
gether with  all  advances  under  the  same  law  running 
for  not  more  than  twenty-five  years,  and  in  addition 
to  grant  loans  in  aid  of  industry  and  commerce  to 
a  total  of  not  more  than  500,000,000  francs.  The 
funds  for  the  purpose  were  to  be  provided  by  bond 
issues  authorized  by  the  state,  repayable  by  the 
state  with  interest  in  annual  installments.  The  agree- 
ment, approved  by  law  on  October  10,  gave  to  the 
state  the  right  of  supervising  the  operations  of 
the  Credit  National,  and  made  the  securities  of 
the  corporation  a  legal  investment  for  communes, 
charitable  organizations,  and  societies  of  a  public 
character. 

In  May,  1920,  the  Credit  National  was  authorized 
to  issue  securities  to  the  amount  of  4,000,000,000 
francs,  in  8,000,000  shares  of  500  francs  each,  bearing 
interest  at  five  per  cent,  and  repayable  in  not  more 
than  sixty-five  years.  Until  1940  the  holders  of  the 
shares  were  to  benefit  by  annual  drawings,  embodying 
the  lottery  feature  familiar  in  French  public  issues, 
and  aggregating  20,000,000  francs.  Beginning  in  1940 
the  outstanding  shares  might  be  repaid  at  par.  A  fur- 
ther issue  of  3,000,000,000  francs,  bearing  interest  at 
six  per  cent,  and  repayable  at  the  rate  of  500,000,000 
francs  annually  beginning  with  1931,  was  authorized  in 


178  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

September,  1921,  and  a  fourth  issue  was  approved  in 
January,  1922. 

Down  to  October  31,  1921,  the  Credit  National  had 
disbursed  to  sinistres,  in  indemnities  and  advances, 
7,607,853,123  francs.  Its  open  accounts  numbered 
700,696.  It  had  loaned  to  industrial  or  commercial 
undertakings  248,474,500  francs.  Its  shares,  issued  at 
a  figure  slightly  less  than  their  par  value  of  500  francs, 
were  quoted  at  the  end  of  November  at  about  465 
francs  per  share.  The  relatively  small  volume  of  loans 
to  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises  is  explained 
by  the  fact  that  the  Credit  National  agreed  not  to 
make  such  loans  until  the  payment  of  indemnities  and 
advances  had  been  organized.  Accordingly,  it  did  not 
begin  to  develop  this  branch  of  its  business  until  the 
second  half  of  1920,  and  its  industrial  and  commercial 
loans,  all  of  which  require  the  approval  of  the  Minister 
of  Finance,  amounted  at  the  end  of  that  year  to  only 
31,045,000  francs.  So  far  as  its  relations  with  the  state 
are  concerned,  the  Credit  National  seems  to  have  per- 
formed its  duties  with  energy  and  efficiency,  in  full 
recognition  of  its  obligations  as  the  custodian  and 
administrator  of  public  funds. 

We  come  now  to  the  budget.  M.  Andre  Tardieu  has 
pointed  out  that  there  is  not,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
term,  a  budget  for  the  liberated  regions.  "Each  month 
the  minister  has  a  contest  with  his  colleague  of  the 
finance  department.  Each  month  the  prefects  are  in- 
formed at  the  last  moment  of  the  credits  which  they 
will  dispense  in  the  month  following." 1  The  point  is 
well  taken,  and  indicates  one  of  the  weaknesses  of  the 
financial  policy  to  which  reference  will  be  made  later. 

lL 'Illustration,  June  4,  1921. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  179 

Nevertheless,  both  the  totals  and  the  items  of  the 
expenditures  made  by  the  government  from  year  to 
year  for  reconstruction  are  ascertainable,  and  it  is  only 
by  studying  them  that  the  magnitude  of  the  effort 
which  France  has  made  and  is  still  making  can  be 
understood. 

The  total  expenditures  on  all  accounts  for  recon- 
struction purposes,  railway  reconstruction  excepted,1 
amounted  at  the  end  of  1920  to  20,964,638,481  francs. 
About  nine-tenths  of  this  amount,  or  17,862,525,006 
francs,  was  spent  in  the  years  1919  and  1920.  Of  the 
total,  448,698,793  francs  represented  the  cost  of  central 
and  local  administration  in  the  ten  invaded  depart- 
ments, 4,149,535,860  francs  the  cost  of  labor  and  mate- 
rials purchased,  13,924,251,920  francs  the  amounts  paid 
in  indemnities  and  advances  to  sinistres,  1,037,351,906 
francs  the  cost  of  relief  of  various  kinds  granted  to 
sinistres,  900,000,000  francs  the  expenses  of  the  office 
of  industrial  reconstitution,  400,000,000  francs  the  ex- 
penses of  the  office  of  agricultural  reconstitution,  and 
104,800,000  francs  the  expenditures  for  motoculture. 
All  of  these  funds  were  raised  by  domestic  loans,  3,200,- 
000,000  francs  being  provided  by  the  Credit  National.2 

Of  the  13,924,251,920  francs  paid  to  sinistres  in  ad- 
vances and  indemnities,  9,655,158,874  francs  repre- 
sented advances  of  money  on  account  of  indemnities, 
82,373,497  francs  indemnities  for  which  certificates  had 
been  issued,  30,169,903  francs  interest,  4,143,339,417 
francs  the  reimbursement  of  advances  in  kind  to  sin- 

lrThe  expenses  of  railway  reconstruction  are  not  included  in  the 
budgets,  but  are  carried  in  a  special  account  under  a  law  of  December 
30,  1917. 

2  These  figures  and  those  which  follow  are  taken  from  the  report 
of  M.  d'Aubigny,  of  the  budget  commission,  submitted  to  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies  on  February  21,  1921. 


180  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

istres  by  the  offices  of  industrial  and  agricultural  recon- 
struction and  on  motoculture  account,  and  13,210,227 
francs  advances  for  the  reparation  of  damages  caused 
by  explosions  or  other  accidents. 

How  do  these  expenditures  compare  with  the  volume 
of  war  losses  to  be  repaired?  Provisional  estimates  of 
war  damages  in  all  the  departments,  including  those 
outside  the  limits  of  the  so-called  liberated  regions, 
fixed  the  total  at  33,488,560,000  francs.  The  provi- 
sional aggregate  of  damages  as  set  forth  in  the  declara- 
tions of  sinistres  amounted,  on  December  31,  1920,  to 
34,665,765,000  francs,  or  1,177,205,000  francs  more 
than  the  provisional  estimates.  These  figures  were 
based  upon  estimated  values  in  1914.  To  them  are  to 
be  added  the  damages  sustained  by  state  property  and 
the  railways,  the  amount  of  these  two  items  being 
estimated  at  1,000,000,000  francs.  The  claims  entered 
by  sinistres  are  in  many  cases  excessive,  and  the  total 
indemnities  awarded  by  the  cantonal  commissions  and 
tribunals  of  war  damages  will  perhaps  not  exceed  30,- 
000,000,000  francs. 

Assuming  that  the  latter  figure  will  be  found  to  be 
correct,  the  total  amount  of  damages  of  all  kinds,  in- 
cluding the  cost  of  replacement  at  present  prices,  can 
be  calculated  with  approximate  accuracy.  Down  to 
the  end  of  1920  the  cost  of  replacement  of  injured  or 
destroyed  property  had  been  on  the  average  five  times 
the  estimated  value  of  the  property  in  1914.  The  ap- 
proximately 15,000,000,000  francs  already  paid  to  sin- 
istres in  indemnities,  advances,  and  relief  may,  accord- 
ingly, be  taken  to  represent  a  value  of  one-fifth  of  that 
amount,  or  3,000,000,000  francs,  on  the  basis  of  1914. 
Deducting  this  amount,  plus  1,000,000,000  francs  rep- 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  181 

resenting  the  value  at  the  same  date  of  the  damaged 
property  of  the  railways  and  the  state,  leaves  26,000,- 
000,000  francs  still  due  to  the  sinistres. 

The  cost  of  reimbursing  this  amount  in  values  of 
1921  or  later  depends,  of  course,  upon  the  coefficient 
that  is  employed.  With  the  coefficient  4  (a  fair  aver- 
age in  1921)  the  cost  would  be  104,000,000,000  francs; 
with  the  coefficient  3,  78,000,000,000  francs;  with  the 
coefficient  2.5  (the  lowest  figure  to  which  the  cost  of 
replacement  seems  likely  to  fall  in  the  near  future), 
65,000,000,000  francs.  Assuming  that  the  payment  of 
indemnities  to  sinistres  will  be  spread  over  at  least  ten 
years,  and  that  changes  in  prices  and  improved  organi- 
zation will  cause  the  coefficient  to  fall,  the  adoption  of 
a  coefficient  midway  between  4  and  2.5,  say  3.25,1  as 
representing  the  average  cost  of  replacement  from  1921 
onward,  brings  the  total  of  damages  still  to  be  reim- 
bursed to  75,500,000,000  francs.  Adding  the  cost  of 
restoring  state  and  railway  property,  for  most  of  which 
a  coefficient  of  from  4  to  5  must  be  employed,  gives  a 
grand  total  of  about  80,000,000,000  francs  as  the  cost 
of  reconstruction  after  January  1,  1921. 

The  budget  commission  of  1921  expressed  the  opin- 
ion that  this  figure  ought  to  be  the  maximum  to  be 
anticipated.  It  was  pointed  out,  however,  that  no 
considerable  reduction  in  the  cost  of  replacement  was 
to  be  looked  for  without  a  reduction  in  wages,  and  that 

*In  the  spring  of  1921  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions 
announced  that  the  coefficient  of  3.25  ought  not  to  be  exceeded  in 
the  reconstruction  of  buildings.  On  September  23,  at  Roye,  he 
found  3.85  a  reasonable  coefficient  for  workingmen's  houses  in  the 
Somme  (Paris  Matin,  September  24,  1921).  At  the  end  of  November, 
during  a  visit  to  the  Ardennes,  he  insisted  upon  the  application  of 
the  coefficient  3.5  "or  at  least  the  smallest  possible  increase  over  the 
valuation  of  1914"  (Paris  Temps,  November  23,  1921). 


182  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

wages  could  not  be  expected  to  fall  until  the  cost  of 
living  in  the  invaded  departments  had  declined.  Such 
decline  could  come  only  when  the  invaded  departments 
became  once  more,  what  they  had  been  before  the 
war,  producers  and  exporters  of  food  instead  of  im- 
porters; and  a  return  to  that  condition  could  not  be 
achieved  until  housing  for  farmers  and  farm  laborers 
and  shelter  for  cattle  had  been  restored  and  village  life 
had  been  resumed. 

An  analysis  of  the  figures  from  this  point  of  view 
gives  the  case  for  reconstruction  a  different  aspect. 
While  the  advances  to  mines  had  reached  84.64  per 
cent,  of  the  estimated  damages  on  the  basis  of  values 
in  1914,  and  those  to  other  industries  112.54  per  cent., 
damages  not  industrial  had  been  reimbursed  only  to 
the  extent  of  21.75  per  cent.,  and  this  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  non-industrial  damages  represented  78 
per  cent,  of  the  total.  The  reparation  of  damages  to 
real  property  of  an  industrial  character  had  absorbed 
25  per  cent,  of  the  money  advances,  while  the  repara- 
tion of  similar  damages  to  property  not  industrial  had 
absorbed  27  per  cent.  The  total  of  advances,  however, 
in  money  and  materials  on  account  of  damages  to  real 
property  was,  in  1920,  about  9,000,000,000  francs,  and 
of  this  only  1,400,000,000  francs  had  gone  to  restore 
non-industrial  losses. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  estimates  of  the 
budget  commission  with  the  figures  upon  which  the 
German  indemnities  and  reparations  are  based.  If  the 
mean  coefficient  of  3.25  proposed  by  the  budget  com- 
mission be  employed,  the  total  cost  of  reconstruction, 
counting  the  15,000,000,000  francs  already  paid  and  the 
80,000,000,000  francs  remaining  to  be  provided,  would 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  183 

be  95,000,000,000  francs.  With  the  highest  coefficient 
proposed,  namely  4,  the  total  would  be  increased  to 
123,000,000,000  francs.  Figures  prepared  by  the  vari- 
ous ministers  late  in  1920  for  submission  to  the  Repa- 
rations Commission  aggregated  232,482,000,000  francs 
for  indemnities  and  reparations  of  all  kinds,  of  which 
amount  140,000,000,000  francs  was  claimed  for  the 
liberated  regions.  The  claims  actually  presented  to  the 
Reparations  Commission  in  February,  1921,  amounted 
to  214,416,596,120  francs,  equal  in  value  to  136,000,- 
000,000  gold  marks,  not  counting  4,125,000,000  francs 
demanded  in  the  form  of  interest.  The  Reparations 
Commission  in  April  allotted  to  France  52  per  cent,  of 
132,000,000,000  gold  marks,  or  68,400,000,000  marks. 
If  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  reduction  of  about  7.75 
per  cent,  in  the  claims  presented  in  February,  as  com- 
pared with  the  previous  estimates,  applied  to  the  esti- 
mates for  the  liberated  regions  in  the  same  proportion 
as  to  the  whole,  the  estimated  cost  of  restoring  the 
liberated  regions  was  131,500,000,000  francs.  The 
Reparations  Commission  further  reduced  the  total 
claims  by  about  three  per  cent.  The  same  propor- 
tionate reduction  applied  to  the  liberated  regions  gives 
a  final  estimate  of  127,555,000,000  francs,  or  4,555,- 
000,000  francs  more  than  the  maximum  estimate  of  the 
budget  commission. 

The  allocation  to  France  of  52  per  cent,  of  the  total 
reparations  obviously  put  an  end  to  the  hope  of  recov- 
ering from  Germany  the  whole  cost  of  reconstruction. 
With  the  adoption  of  that  decision,  reconstruction,  in 
the  words  of  M.  Andre  Tardieu,  ceased  to  be  an  inter- 
national problem  and  became  a  domestic  one.  The 
most  that  could  be  expected  from  Germany  for  all  pur- 


184  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

poses  was  52  per  cent,  of  about  205,839,000,000  francs, 
or  approximately  107,088,000,000  francs.  The  minis- 
terial estimate  for  the  liberated  regions  was  approxi- 
mately 60  per  cent,  of  the  total.  On  this  basis  the 
proportion  of  the  German  indemnities  available  for  the 
liberated  regions  would  amount  to  about  64,252,000,- 
000  francs,  or  more  than  30,000,000,000  francs  less 
than  the  lowest  estimate  of  the  budget  commission. 
This  deficit  must  be  met  by  taxes  paid  by  the  French 
people  themselves. 

The  credits  voted  for  1921  were  prodigious.  For  the 
months  of  January  and  February  6,000,000,000  francs 
was  made  available  for  the  payment  of  indemnities  and 
advances  to  sinistres,  4,750,000,000  francs  for  indus- 
trial reconstruction,  and  2,443,007,605  francs  for  the 
miscellaneous  expenses  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions.  This  latter  item  was  increased  by 
856,473,005  francs  for  March,  807,642,950  francs  for 
April,  and  766,144,965  francs  for  May.  For  the  month 
of  April  a  further  credit  of  150,000,000  francs  was 
voted  for  industrial  reconstruction.  The  budget  law 
of  May  31,  devoted  to  special  expenses  recoverable 
under  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Versailles,  carried 
9,079,676,114  francs  for  the  general  account  of  the 
Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  and  an  additional 
credit  of  1,750,000,000  francs  for  industrial  reconstruc- 
tion. The  total  credits  voted  to  May  31  aggregated 
26,602,944,639  francs,  to  which  is  further  to  be  added 
a  supplementary  credit  of  930,000,000  francs  voted  in 
December  on  account  of  expenses  for  the  current  year. 
Adding  the  amounts  expended  from  1915  to  1920  inclu- 
sive gives  a  grand  total  of  48,497,583,120  francs.  These 
figures  do  not  include  appropriations  for  railways, 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  185 

mines,  and  historical  monuments,  of  which  the  propor- 
tion applicable  to  the  liberated  regions  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained with  certainty  from  the  budget  statements,  or 
numerous  other  items  credited  to  different  ministries 
but  actually  applied  to  reconstruction  in  the  invaded 
departments.  The  aggregate  of  these  indeterminate 
credits  would  swell  the  total  by  several  milliards.1 

Until  July,  1920,  sinistres  were  not  permitted  to 
borrow  on  the  security  of  their  future  indemnities. 
The  budget  law  of  July  31  removed  this  restriction  in 
the  case  of  sinistres  whose  damages  equaled  or  ex- 
ceeded one  million  francs,2  at  the  same  time  allowing 
sinistres,  including  cities,  communes,  and  corporations, 
whose  claims  were  less  than  that  amount  to  combine 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  advantage  of  the  law.  Such 
sinistres  or  groups  of  sinistres  were  permitted  by  the 
law  to  enter  into  agreements  with  the  government, 
through  the  Minister  of  Finance,  under  which  the 

aThe  budget  for  1922,  voted  by  the  Chambers  on  Deoember  31, 
carried  total  credits  of  204,509,000  francs  for  reconstruction  work  of 
various  kinds,  not  including  large  allowances  to  functionaries  in  the 
liberated  regions  on  account  of  the  high  cost  of  living,  and  186,323,000 
francs  for  reconstruction  in  Alsace-Lorraine.  The  special  budget  of 
expenditures  recoverable  from  Germany,  which  at  the  time  of  writing 
was  still  before  the  Chambers,  contemplated  an  expenditure  of  7,000,- 
000,000  francs,  in  addition  to  8,000,000,000  francs  to  be  derived  from 
loans  issued  by  the  Credit  National  and  4,000,000,000  francs  from 
loans  issued  by  groups  of  sinistres.  The  total  credits  for  the  year, 
accordingly,  would  amount  to  15,000,000,000  francs,  or  19,000,000,000 
francs  if  the  loans  of  sinistres  reached  the  figure  of  4,000,000,000 
francs  fixed  as  a  limit  by  the  law  of  July  31.  1920.  The  reporter 
of  the  budget,  M.  de"  Lasteyrie,  later  Minister  of  Finance  in  the 
Poincare  Cabinet,  estimated  that  the  amounts  advanced  to  January 
1,  1922,  on  account  of  recoverable  expenditures  would  reach  a  total 
of  80,000,000,000  francs,  of  which  45,000,000,000  francs  represented 
damages  to  property,  29,000,000,000  francs  damages  to  persons,  and 
6,000,000,000  francs  interest.  These  figures,  however,  it  should  be 
pointed  out,  are  for  the  whole  of  France  and  not  exclusively  for  the 
liberated  regions. 

3  A  proposed  law  submitted  by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  in  November,  1921,  reduced  this  limit  to  200,000  francs  and 
further  enlarged  the  privilege  of  borrowing. 


186  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

indemnities  due  were  to  be  paid  in  annual  installments 
extending  over  from  fifteen  to  thirty  years,  with  inter- 
est at  six  per  cent,  per  annum.  With  the  bond  and  its 
attached  coupons  which  embodied  this  agreement  as 
collateral,  the  sinistre  was  at  liberty  to  borrow  through 
an  approved  bank,  the  bank  acting  as  a  trustee  and 
paying  the  proceeds  of  the  loan  on  statements  from 
government  agents  that  the  work  undertaken  had  been 
done.  The  first  group  of  sinistres  to  take  advantage  of 
this  provision  was  the  association  of  collieries  of  the 
Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais,  whose  issue  of  six  per 
cent,  bonds  to  the  amount  of  1,200,000,000  francs  has 
already  been  referred  to.  In  this  instance  the  loan 
enjoyed  the  added  security  of  a  capital  of  50,000,000 
francs  furnished  by  the  companies.  The  loan  was 
promptly  taken  by  the  public,  and  in  fact  was  over- 
subscribed. 

On  April  9,  1921,  the  city  of  Albert  issued  a  loan  of 
25,000,000  francs  which  was  quickly  absorbed.  The 
success  of  this  loan,  together  with  the  announcement 
of  two  others  to  be  offered  by  Reims  and  Verdun,  pre- 
cipitated a  lively  controversy  between  the  Minister  of 
Finance  and  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions. 
The  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  M.  Louis  Lou- 
cheur,  to  whose  energetic  administration  the  rapid 
progress  of  industrial  reconstruction  was  largely  due, 
championed  the  municipal  loans  on  the  ground  that 
they  would  not  only  aid  the  financing  of  reconstruction 
but  would  also  stimulate  local  interest.  The  Minister 
of  Finance,  M.  Paul  Doumer,  opposed  them  on  the 
ground  that  such  loans  tended  to  limit  the  market  for 
national  loans.  There  were  rumors  that  the  Reims 
and  Verdun  loans  had  been  held  up  and  that  a  Cabinet 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FINANCE  187 

crisis  was  threatened.  The  policy  of  M.  Loucheur  pre- 
vailed, however,  and  in  June  the  two  loans,  that  of 
Reims  for  120,000,000  francs  and  that  of  Verdun  for 
60,000,000  francs,  were  authorized.  A  fourth  loan  of 
15,000,000  francs  for  the  commune  of  La  Bassee  in  the 
Nord  department  was  authorized  in  September.  In 
December  the  commune  of  Soissons  was  authorized  to 
borrow  $6,000,000  in  Canada.  A  loan  of  150,000,000 
francs  by  the  Nord  department,  also  authorized  in 
December,  was  promptly  subscribed.  A  large  loan, 
planned  by  an  association  of  the  mayors  of  the  invaded 
departments  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  devastated  com- 
munes, was  under  consideration  at  the  time  of  writing. 
How  long  the  burden  imposed  by  huge  credits  for 
reconstruction  can  be  bon^  even  with  the  aid  of  the 
German  indemnities,  is  a  question  primarily  for  the 
financiers.  The  demand  for  inflation  of  the  currency 
is  at  the  moment  strong  in  France,  and  so  long  as  the 
government  continues  its  present  scale  of  military  and 
civil  expenditures,  maintains  a  swollen  list  of  func- 
tionaries, and  meets  recurring  deficits  by  further  bor- 
rowing instead  of  by  levying  equitably  upon  the  im- 
mense wealth  which  France  actually  possesses,  that 
demand  with  all  its  dangerous  implications  is  likely  to 
increase.  On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  the  restoration  of  the  mines,  the  factories,  and  the 
farms  of  the  invaded  departments  adds  each  year  to 
the  store  of  material  values  available  for  the  payment 
of  national  debts,  and  that  the  rich  resources  of  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  are  now  a  part  of  the  wealth  of  France. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  financial  outlook  is  seri- 
ous, but  it  does  not  as  yet  spell  catastrophe. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   GOVERNMENT  AND   ITS   CRITICS 

It  will  be  convenient  to  examine  at  this  point  some 
of  the  more  important  criticisms  which  have  been 
voiced  in  France  and  elsewhere  regarding  the  recon- 
struction policy  of  the  government.  Certain  of  these 
criticisms  have  already  been  briefly  alluded  to,  but  so 
many  of  the  objections  which  have  been  urged  to  the 
government  policy,  either  as  a  whole  or  in  the  details 
of  its  practical  application,  ultimately  involve  the 
question  of  money  that  they  could  not  well  be  consid- 
ered at  length  until  the  financial  operations  had  them- 
selves been  outlined.  Now  that  the  administrative  and 
financial  sides  of  the  case  have  both  been  presented, 
the  criticisms  to  which  the  reconstruction  program 
has  been  subjected  may  properly  be  weighed.  I  leave 
out  of  account,  as  unworthy  of  serious  attention,  the 
more  or  less  superficial  strictures  of  casual  travelers, 
most  of  whom  have  never  seen  the  invaded  depart- 
ments as  a  whole  and  are  unacquainted  with  what  has 
been  planned  or  done,  and  also  those  criticisms  of  the 
French  press  or  of  French  political  circles  whose  main 
purpose  is  to  discredit  or  embarrass  the  government. 
It  hardly  need  be  added  that  the  indiscriminate  praise 
which  the  work  of  reconstruction  has  occasionally  re- 
ceived is  equally  beside  the  mark. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  to  begin  by  summarizing 

188 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      189 

some  of  the  statements  with  which  M.  d'Aubigny,  the 
reporter  of  the  budget  commission  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  in  1921,  prefaces  his  examination  of  the  pro- 
posed budget  for  that  year. 

If,  writes  M.  d'Aubigny,  one  interrogates  the  mayors 
or  the  sinistres  in  the  villages  of  the  devastated  area, 
the  same  complaint  is  everywhere  repeated.  For  two 
years,  those  questioned  will  tell  you,  we  have  worked 
courageously  and  willingly  to  restore  our  villages  and 
our  land,  but  how  do  we  stand?  Most  of  the  promises 
made  to  us  have  not  been  kept,  and  we  are  losing  hope. 
Our  temporary  houses,  built  of  green  lumber,  let  in  the 
wind  and  the  rain,  they  are  cold  in  winter  and  hot  in 
summer,  and  they  are  too  small  for  families  with  many 
children.  The  leaky  roofs  of  our  houses  and  granges 
are  still  covered  with  paper,  and  tiles  are  unobtainable. 
Why?  Because  our  claims  to  damages  have  not  been 
settled  and  permanent  rebuilding  cannot  proceed.  The 
first  advance  for  the  reconstruction  of  stables  and 
granges  came  promptly  enough,  but  for  the  others, 
thanks  to  formalities,  we  have  to  wait  weeks  or 
months.  We  are  far  from  materials  and  supplies, 
labor  is  scarce,  we  cannot  lodge  workmen  who  other- 
wise might  be  induced  to  come,  we  cannot  guarantee 
regular  payments  to  contractors.  The  food  supplies 
which  reach  us  at  second  or  third  hand  are  excessively 
dear,  and  we  lack  food  for  our  cattle.  The  statistics  of 
the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  show  enormous 
areas  returned  to  cultivation,  but  the  size  of  the  crops 
is  a  different  story.  And  why  is  living  so  dear?  Chiefly 
because  as  yet  we  have  nothing  to  sell. 

Ask  the  president  of  a  rural  cooperative  society  for 


190  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

reconstruction,  continues  M.  d'Aubigny,  and  he  will 
tell  you  that  after  having  organized  the  society  on  a 
model  plan  prepared  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions,  everything  had  presently  to  be  made  over  to 
conform  to  new  laws  and  decrees.  We  have  estab- 
lished a  plan  of  work  for  1921,  but  we  have  as  yet 
received  no  advances  and  no  share  in  revolving  funds, 
and  in  consequence  cannot  make  contracts.  The  can- 
tonal commissions  refuse  to  consider  dossiers  of  dam- 
ages except  in  the  order  in  which  the  papers  are  filed ; 
they  will  not  approve  the  sums  which  we  pay  to  con- 
tractors even  when  those  sums  correspond  to  the  co- 
efficients established  by  the  technical  committees  of 
the  ministry.  Property  lines  have  not  been  run,  we 
are  not  allowed  to  build  permanently  without  a  plan, 
and  our  plans  are  not  yet  approved.  The  law  may  be 
all  right  for  the  cities,  but  it  is  useless  for  the  villages. 

The  president  of  a  cooperative  society  in  a  large  city 
is  no  more  encouraging.  Almost  everything  here,  he 
will  tell  you,  has  been  injured.  We  have  done  what  we 
could  with  the  credits  allowed,  but  payments  have  been 
so  small  and  so  slow  as  to  defeat  our  efforts.  Many  of 
our  members  who  were  able  to  do  so  have  had  to  pay 
contractors  out  of  their  private  means,  otherwise  the 
work  would  have  stopped.  In  spite  of  all  that  we  can 
do  the  commissions  persist  in  passing  upon  our  per- 
sonal property  losses,  to  the  neglect  of  the  real  prop- 
erty which  is  more  important.  As  for  the  cost  of  labor, 
it  is  prohibitive. 

Numerous  contractors  were  to  be  found  who,  after 
having  incurred  large  expense  in  erecting  workshops, 
were  unable,  through  lack  of  government  credits,  to 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      191 

obtain  more  than  a  few  workmen.  The  government 
depots  of  material  contained  roofing  tiles  brought  by- 
sea  from  Marseille  to  Dunkerque  or  Calais  and  trans- 
ported thence  by  rail  and  camion,  other  tiles  brought 
from  Holland,  and  timber  from  Sweden  and  Finland, 
notwithstanding  that  all  of  these  materials  might 
easily  have  been  procured  at  much  less  expense  from 
Germany.  Sections  of  portable  houses  were  left  to 
deteriorate  in  the  open  air,  while  near-by  hangars  were 
stacked  with  bags^  of  cement  which,  because  of  pre- 
vious long  exposure,  was  now  useless.  Great  numbers 
of  workers'  houses,  shops,  and  other  buildings  were 
going  to  ruin  because  Parliament  had  insisted  that 
state  work  should  be  suspended.  Every  sinistre  com- 
plained of  the  army  of  functionaries,  the  lack  of  uni- 
formity or  coordination,  and  the  overwhelming  mass  of 
dossiers. 

Thus  M.  d'Aubigny.  For  the  remedy  of  these  evils, 
the  picture  of  which  appears  not  to  have  been  regarded 
as  overdrawn,  the  budget  commission  proposed  the  fol- 
lowing reforms  for  1921 : 

1.  The  suppression  of  state  work,  the  simplification  of 
administrative  routine,  the  diminution  of  the  number  of 
papers  required  to  be  prepared,  the  unification  of  adminis- 
trative methods  in  the  different  departments  and  of  the 
different  series  of  prices  and  coefficients,  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  individual  initiative. 

2.  The  suppression  of  provisional  ^construction  and  the 
system  of  advances  for  labor,  the  delivery  of  definitive 
certificates  of  damages  for  real  property,  the  simplification 
of  the  process  by  which  advances  of  indemnity  to  be  re- 
employed were  made,  and  payments  at  fixed  dates. 

3.  The  grouping  of  sinistres  in  cooperative  reconstruction 
.societies,  the  determination  by  the  state  and  the  coopera- 


192  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

tives  of  an  order  of  urgency  or  priority,  the  examination 
of  claims  by  the  cantonal  commissions  in  accordance  with 
this  order  of  urgency,  the  establishment  of  an  annual  pro- 
gram of  work  with  credits  corresponding  to  the  program, 
and  the  cession  to  the  cooperatives  of  all  construction  mate- 
rial, whether  already  installed  or  not,  acquired  by  the  state. 

4.  The  modification  of  existing  laws  in  regard  to  the 
running  of  property  and  street  lines  so  as  to  insure  prompt 
treatment  of  those  questions,  and  the  determination  of  the 
proportion  of  cost  to  be  borne  by  the  state. 

5.  The  modification  of  certain  regulations  regarding  pub- 
lic health. 

6.  A  general  organization  of  labor  in  the  liberated 
regions,  arrangements  for  foreign  labor  and  for  the  delivery 
of  material  in  kind  by  Germany,  and  the  regulation  of 
prices. 

The  carrying  out  of  this  comprehensive  program, 
the  realization  of  which  would  have  met  most  of  the 
criticisms  to  which  the  budget  commission  referred, 
was  by  no  means  equally  easy  at  all  points.  Orders 
had  already  been  issued  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions  on  February  5,  1921,  to  bring  all  direct 
state  work  to  a  close  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  ques- 
tion of  provisional  houses  was  more  difficult.  The 
prefects  insisted  that  appropriations  for  such  houses 
should  continue  tq  be  made  for  1921.  The  commis- 
sion, while  admitting  the  impossibility  of  undoing 
what  had  been  done,  condemned  the  housing  policy 
strongly  as  wasteful  and  ill-advised,  and  inquired 
sharply  why  different  plans  which  had  been  worked  out 
in  1918  and  1919  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  had  not  been  put  into  operation.  It  was 
further  pointed  out  that  even  if  temporary  wooden 
houses  were  in  some  cases  necessary,  it  would  have 
been  better  policy  to  obtain  them  from  Germany,  since 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS     193 

facilities  for  their  manufacture  did  not  exist  in  France 
in  1914  and  the  facilities  that  now  existed  were  a 
creation  of  the  war  and  primarily  for  military  purposes. 
The  demand  by  the  sinistres  for  the  suppression  of 
advances  and  the  prompt  delivery  of  certificates  of 
damages  raised  one  of  the  most  serious  questions  with 
which  a  reform  of  reconstruction  methods  had  to  deal. 
The  actual  situation  is  best  described  in  M.  d'Au- 
bigny's  own  words.1 

"A  sinistre,  desiring  to  reconstruct  his  farm  buildings,  has 
had  his  statement  of  damages  prepared  by  an  architect  and 
has  asked  for  the  advance  of  60  per  cent,  to  which  he  is 
entitled  by  law.  Assuring  that  the  actual  loss  sustained 
has  been  evaluated  at  30,000  francs,  and  that  the  coefficient 
adopted  by  the  technical  committee  of  the  department  for 
the  supplementary  indemnity  is  6,  the  claim  presented  will 
be  30,000  X6  =  180,000  francs. 

"In  certain  departments  the  administration  has  been  very 
generous  in  granting  advances,  and  it  is  possible  that  the 
sinistre  may  have  received  108,000  francs,  exactly  60  per 
cent,  of  his  claim.  Thereupon  he  has  gone  to  work  in  good 
faith,  and  has  devoted  the  whole  amount  of  his  advance  to 
the  reconstruction  of  his  farm  buildings  other  than  his  house. 
He  has  then  taken  his  accounts  to  the  cantonal  commission, 
with  the  statement:  'Here  is  what  I  have  expended  on  my 
buildings.  There  remains  only  to  rebuild  my  house.  All  I 
ask  of  you  is  the  amount  necessary  for  that  purpose.' 

"Imagine  his  surprise  when  the  commission  reply:  'We 
have  nothing  to  do  with  advances  that  are  not  made  with 
our  approval ;  we  examine  only  the  total  of  your  losses  and 
apply  to  it  the  coefficient  which  we  deem  equitable.  Your 
estimate  of  actual  losses  is  exaggerated.  We  decide,  upon 
expert  advice,  to  reduce  it  to  25,000  francs.  The  coefficient 
6  is  perhaps  well  enough  for  the  work  of  repair.  It  will 
not  do  for  an  aggregate  of  new  construction.  We  consider 
that  the  proper  coefficient  is  5/ 

irThe  passage  which  follows  has  been  slightly  condensed  in  trans- 
lation. 


194  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

"The  account  then  appears  as  follows: 

Actual  loss  (value  in  1914) 25,000  francs 

Coefficient  of  supplementary  costs 5      " 

Total  indemnity 125,000  francs 

Deduction  for  advance  received 108,000      " 

Balance  to  be  accorded 17,000  francs 

"The  sinistre  thus  finds  himself  in  presence  of  a  sum  less 
by  a  fourth  or  a  half  of  what  is  needed  to  rebuild  his  house 
and  complete  the  work  of  restoration." 

Even  more  regrettable,  M.  d'Aubigny  added,  was  the 
fact  that  in  various  departments,  notably  in  the 
Somme,  sinistres  had  received  from  the  commissions 
awards  whose  total,  including  actual  loss  and  supple- 
ments, was  less  than  the  amount  of  the  advances  which 
had  been  made;  with  the  result  that  sinistres  who  had 
completed  only  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the 
necessary  restoration  actually  found  themselves  in- 
debted to  the  state.  What  will  happen  if  the  coeffi- 
cient falls  to  3  or  2.50?  Obviously,  many  sinistres  will 
be  ruined  and  reconstruction  will  stop. 

The  remedy  for  the  evil,  in  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
mission, was  to  be  found  only  in  an  immediate  simpli- 
fication of  the  elaborate  and  time-consuming  formali- 
ties which  the  administration  had  prescribed,  and 
which  as  a  rule  involved  a  delay  of  three  or  four 
months  between  the  time  when  a  request  for  an  ad- 
vance was  filed  and  the  time  when  the  money  was 
received.  A  speedier  decision  regarding  indemnities 
and  the  establishment  of  fixed  dates  of  payment  was 
even  more  important  for  the  cooperative  societies  than 
for  the  individual  sinistres,  because  the  societies  were 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      195 

required  by  law  to  adopt  a  program  of  construction 
and  to  decide  questions  of  urgency.  So  long  as  claims 
to  damages  were  indefinitely  held  up  and  payments 
made  irregularly,  cooperative  reconstruction  could 
with  difficulty  go  on  at  all. 

The  budget  commission  was  particularly  severe  in 
its  criticism  of  the  excessive  number  of  functionaries, 
the  continuance  of  bureaux  or  services  no  longer  neces- 
sary, the  unduly  large  orders  given  for  materials  and 
the  high  prices  paid,  the  alteration  of  contracts  against 
the  advice  of  technical  committees,  and  the  wasteful 
and  extravagant  expenditures  for  temporary  or  semi- 
durable  houses.  A  number  of  light  railways  on  which 
considerable  sums  had  been  spent  were  condemned  as 
unnecessary,  and  the  opinion  was  expressed  that  the 
whole  subject  of  railway  transport  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works,  to  whose  juris- 
diction it  naturally  belonged.  A  minute  examination 
of  the  offices  of  industrial  and  agricultural  reconstitu- 
tion,  the  latter  of  which  had  already  been  made  the 
subject  of  a  special  inquiry,  disclosed  uncommercial 
methods  which  were  adjudged  to  be  extravagant  and 
wasteful. 

The  substance  of  the  various  recommendations  of 
the  budget  commission  was  that  the  state  should  cease 
altogether  to  be  either  buyer,  seller,  contractor,  or 
exploiter  in  any  matters  in  which  state  property  or 
state  interests  were  not  involved,  and  that  the  com- 
mercial methods  which  obtained  before  the  war  should 
be  resumed.  There  should  be  a  fixed  budget  for  the 
Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  corresponding  to  the 
resources  of  the  treasury  from  year  to  year,  and  the 


196  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

powers  of  the  ministry  should  be  enlarged  wherever 
necessary  to  insure  proper  centralization,  but  the  func- 
tions of  the  office  should  be  limited  to  those  of  evalua- 
tion, control,  and  payment. 

It  is  evident  from  the  summary  which  has  just  been 
given  that  the  budget  commission  took  on  the  whole  a 
highly  individualistic  view  of  the  reconstruction  prob- 
lem, that  a  marked  restriction  of  government  activity 
for  the  future  seemed  to  it  not  only  highly  desirable 
but  imperative,  and  that  it  was  distinctly  favorable 
to  the  participation  of  Germany  in  the  work  of 
restoration. 

The  precise  weight  of  its  criticisms,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  not  easy  to  gauge  impartially  and  in  any  case 
is  somewhat  a  matter  of  opinion.  Unquestionably 
there  had  been  both  extravagance  and  waste,  and  the 
list  of  salaried  functionaries  was  undoubtedly  exces- 
sive. Neither  in  purchase  nor  in  sale  had  commercial 
standards  always  been  observed,  and  the  market  value 
of  materials  and  their  cost  to  the  state  or  the  sinistra 
did  not  always  correspond.  It  was  clear  that  industrial 
reconstruction  had  been  favored  at  the  expense  of 
agriculture,  and  that  the  endless  red  tape  of  official 
procedure  had  embarrassed  cooperative  societies  and 
individual  sinistres  at  almost  every  turn.  The  provi- 
sion of  a  labor  supply  had  not  been  forthcoming,  and  it 
was  at  least  a  question  whether  the  huge  credits  voted 
for  reconstruction  purposes  had  not  in  consequence 
exceeded  the  human  resources  available  for  rebuilding. 
The  millions  which  had  been  spent  on  temporary 
houses,  few  of  which  had  permanent  value  for  any 
purpose,  would  have  gone  far  toward  rebuilding  the 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      197 

houses  that  had  been  injured  or  destroyed  if  a  system- 
atic plan  for  permanent  reconstruction  could  have  been 
adopted  at  the  beginning.  The  evaluation  of  war 
damages  was  admittedly  a  complicated  task,  but  with 
approximately  four  hundred  cantonal  commissions  in 
operation  as  early  as  July,  1919,  the  interminable 
delays  are  difficult  to  excuse. 

These  are  weighty  criticisms  not  to  be  ignored. 
They  are  not,  however,  the  whole  story.  There  are 
other  considerations  which,  in  any  fair  view  of  the 
question,  should  equally  be  weighed.  The  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  devastated  departments  was  not  wholly  a 
matter  of  organization  and  mathematics;  it  was  also 
a  question  of  politics,  of  public  opinion,  and  of  class 
rivalry.  The  patriotic  determination  to  restore  as 
quickly  as  possible  what  the  war  had  destroyed  was 
crossed  by  the  fear,  shown  throughout  the  long  debate 
in  Parliament  over  the  law  of  war  damages,  that  unless 
the  reemployment  of  indemnities  was  insisted  upon 
large  numbers  of  sinistres  would  not  return.  The  dis- 
solution of  the  union  sacree  which  repressed  party 
strife  while  the  war  was  going  on  revived,  after  the 
armistice,  the  class  controversies  and  struggles  of  peas- 
ants, farmers,  artisans,  industrialists,  and  capitalists 
which  have  long  played  leading  parts  in  French  poli- 
tics, and  which  expose  every  benefit  obtained  by  one 
class  to  the  hostile  criticisms  of  those  who  do  not  share 
in  it.  There  was  the  powerful  tradition  that  the 
peasant  farmers,  hereditary  enemies  of  the  skilled 
workers  and  of  people  who  live  in  towns,  ought  first 
to  be  considered,  that  the  restoration  of  a  small  farm 
was  of  greater  social  importance  than  the  rebuilding  of 


198  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

a  factory  or  the  reopening  of  a  mine.,  and  that  the  de- 
sires and  prejudices  of  individuals  took  rank  before  the 
welfare  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 

There  were  directions,  too,  in  which  the  element  of 
time  combined  with  that  of  politics  to  produce  uncer- 
tainty and  delay.  The  question  of  the  German  repa- 
rations and  indemnities,  dragging  its  weary  length  over 
twenty-two  long  months  after  the  peace  before  a  deci- 
sion was  reached,  and  kept  in  evidence  even  to-day  by 
reactionary  politicians  for  whom  the  war  has  not  yet 
ceased,  clouded  the  whole  path  of  government  finance 
so  far  as  reconstruction  was  concerned.  On  the  other 
hand,  until  that  question  was  settled  and  the  natural 
feeling  of  bitterness  and  resentment  born  of  the  war 
had  moderated,  dealings  with  Germany  were  prac- 
tically impossible.  It  would  have  been  easy,  as  the 
budget  commission  of  1921  suggested,  to  obtain  build- 
ing material  from  Germany  or  to  recruit  German  labor 
for  reconstruction  work,  but  public  opinion  was  hostile 
so  long  as  no  reparation  payments  had  been  made.  If 
labor  was  scarce  in  the  liberated  regions  notwithstand- 
ing that  wages  were  high,  it  was  because  a  farm  laborer 
is  not  a  mechanic  and  a  miner  is  not  a  farmer  as  well 
as  because  German,  Austrian,  Italian,  or  Polish  work- 
men were  not  imported.  The  myth  of  a  "labor  sup- 
ply," capable  of  being  drawn  upon  in  bulk  wherever 
there  is  a  shortage,  was  as  widely  held  in  France  as  in 
other  countries,  but  no  inducement  of  wages  could 
draw  skilled  workmen  from  Paris,  Lyons,  or  Marseille 
for  plowing  and  harvesting  in  the  Somme  or  the  Aisne, 
or  transform  the  agriculturalists  of  the  north  into 
masons  or  carpenters. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      199 

It  is  apparent  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  popular 
criticism  of  reconstruction  which  finds  expression  in 
France  takes  the  point  of  view  of  the  small  farmer 
whose  buildings  have  not  yet  been  restored  and  whose 
claims  for  damages  have  not  yet  been  settled.  The 
budget  commission  of  1921  presented  detailed  statistics 
showing  the  decreased  crops,  on  land  that  had  been 
restored,  as  compared  with  production  in  1914.  The 
situation  of  many  small  farmers  in  the  devastated  area 
is  unquestionably  distressing.  One  may  still  find  many 
small  villages — some  of  the  most  striking  examples  are 
regularly  shown  to  tourists  who  patronize  automobile 
excursions  from  Paris  to  London — which  stand  to-day 
in  almost  the  same  condition  of  ghastly  ruin  in  which 
the  war  left  them.  Here  again,  however,  there  is 
another  side.  A  careful  inspection  of  the  whole  dev- 
tion  is  most  apparent  are,  in  the  great  majority  of 
astated  area  shows  that  the  villages  in  which  desola- 
cases^  those  which  in  1914  had  less  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred inhabitants  each,  and  that  the  neighboring  farms 
are  generally  under  cultivation  even  when  the  village 
is  a  waste.  It  is  indeed  a  pity  that  these  villages  have 
not  been  rebuilt,  but  it  would  nevertheless  have  been  a 
mistaken  policy,  since  everything  could  not  be  done  at 
once,  to  give  them  priority  and  let  industry  wait. 

Nor  is  the  agricultural  situation  as  bad  as  it  has 
sometimes  been  painted.  An  examination  of  the  fig- 
ures presented  by  the  budget  commission  shows  that 
with  the  exception  of  the  Aisne,  in  which  the  crop 
production  in  1920  was  less  than  half  that  of  1914,  the 
average  diminution  of  production  per  hectare  was  less 
than  twenty  per  cent,  as  compared  with  the  period 


200  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

before  the  war.  It  would  have  been  remarkable  if, 
remembering  the  favorable  conditions  which  many- 
years  of  intensive  cultivation  had  brought  about,  land 
which  the  war  had  torn  to  pieces  should  in  two  years, 
with  as  yet  a  scanty  supply  of  stock  for  its  enrichment, 
have  resumed  its  former  fertility.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
even  the  Aisne  had  a  fair  grain  crop  in  1920,  the  crops 
in  general  went  beyond  local  needs  in  that  year,  and 
the  grain  harvest  of  1921  was  one  of  the  best  that 
France  has  ever  known.  The  production  of  one  of  the 
most  important  crops,  namely  sugar  beets,  was  the 
same  per  hectare  in  1920  as  before  the  war  in  the 
Marne,  one  quintal  per  hectare,  or  one-third  of  one 
per  cent,  less  in  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  sixteen  per 
cent,  less  in  the  Oise.  The  falling  off  in  the  value  of 
the  sugar-beet  crop  in  1921  was  primarily  due  to 
drought  and  the  backwardness  of  the  sugar-factory 
owners  in  rebuilding  their  works,  rather  than  to  the 
mistakes  of  reconstruction.  The  budget  commission 
voiced  the  sound  opinion  that  until  the  invaded  de- 
partments had  something  to  sell  the  cost  of  living, 
which  means  also  the  rates  of  wages,  would  not  de- 
cline. It  is  clear  that,  although  half  a  million  of  the 
former  population  has  not  yet  returned,  the  condition 
which  the  commission  desired  is  already  being  attained 
in  agriculture.  It  would  be  superfluous  to  point  out 
that  the  products  of  the  factories  and  the  mines,  rap- 
idly approaching  and  in  some  cases  already  exceeding 
the  volume  of  production  before  the  war,  create  a  rev- 
enue in  whose  benefits  agriculture  also  shares. 

The  most  serious  and  regrettable  failures  of  recon- 
struction are  to  be  found,  not  in  the  smaller  villages, 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      201 

but  in  the  still  unrelieved  ruins  of  Albert,  Arras,  Lens, 
Bethune,  Reims,  Verdun,  and  many  other  large  towns. 
For  the  desolation  which  still  prevails  in  these  centers 
the  dilatory  methods  of  the  cantonal  commissions,  the 
necessity  of  relocating  street  and  property  lines  before 
building  permits  can  be  issued,  and  the  maze  of  for- 
malities elaborated  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  appear  to  be  primarily  responsible.1 

The  budget  commission  urged  strongly  the  abandon- 
ment by  the  state  of  its  role  of  buyer,  seller,  and  con- 
tractor and  the  adoption  in  the  future  of  recognized 
commercial  methods.  The  change  is  undoubtedly  de- 
sirable now ;  indeed,  it  is  already  rapidly  taking  place. 
The  Central  Purchasing  Agency  is  winding  up  its 
affairs  and  disposing  of  its  remaining  stocks,  and  the 
accumulated  supplies  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  are  being  rapidly  reduced  or  turned  over  to  the 
cooperative  reconstruction  societies.  The  provision  of 
law  by  which  sinistres  may  now  borrow  on  the  security 
of  future  indemnities  is  further  facilitating  the  change, 
the  larger  industrial  establishments  have  to  a  consider- 
able extent  adopted  commercial  methods  from  the 
beginning,  and  the  railways  have  from  the  first  been 

*An  interesting  plan  for  hastening  reconstruction  was  set  forth  at 
the  end  of  December,  1921,  by  the  prefect  of  the  Somme.  It  was 
proposed  to  divide  the  department  into  eighteen  sectors,  formed  by- 
grouping  communes,  and  to  delegate  to  one  of  the  cooperative 
societies  of  the  sectors  so  much  of  the  war  damage  claims  for  real 
property  as  the  sinistres  wished  to  re-employ  in  the  restoration  of 
their  houses.  When  the  claims  held  by  any  one  society  amounted 
approximately  to  15,000,000  francs,  the  society  was  to  make  a  con- 
tract with  some  large  concern  equipped  to  undertake  the  aggregate 
amount  of  rebuilding  involved,  and  willing  to  enter  into  an  agree- 
ment to  complete  the  work  in  three  or  four  years.  The  plan  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  the  mayors  of  the  communes  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  sectors  has  been  begun. 


202  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

independent.  Whether  in  the  past,  however,  commer- 
cial methods  would  have  helped  the  smaller  sinistres 
or  the  farmers  may  be  doubted.  There  is  little  reason 
to  suppose  that  reliance  upon  the  ordinary  processes  in 
buying  and  selling  would  have  produced  better  hous- 
ing, or  insured  better  provision  of  building  materials, 
machinery,  tools,  seed,  household  furnishings,  cattle,  or 
medical  supplies,  or  obtained  priority  of  transport  for 
the  numberless  commodities  of  which  the  invaded  de- 
partments had  need.  They  could  in  any  case  have 
worked  successfully  only  where  the  sinistres  had  capi- 
tal or  security,  and  it  was  precisely  capital  and  security 
that  most  sinistres  lacked. 

The  question  of  coefficients  is  obviously  one  of  great 
complexity.  The  cost  of  replacing  property  having  a 
given  value  in  1914  varies  not  only  with  each  particu- 
lar kind  of  property,  but  also  with  different  depart- 
ments and  from  year  to  year.  If  work  is  slack  and 
contracts  are  eagerly  sought,  prices  are  likely  to  fall; 
if  building  is  active  and  labor  fully  employed,  prices 
tend  to  rise.  The  determination  of  any  coefficient,  ac- 
cordingly, involves  numerous  hypothetical  factors, 
especially  when  a  given  piece  of  work  necessarily  con- 
tinues over  many  months.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
more  elaborate  the  tables  of  coefficients  applicable  to 
different  kinds  of  property,  the  greater  the  task  of  a 
cantonal  commission  in  applying  the  tables  to  the 
damage  claims  presented,  and  the  greater  likelihood  of 
disputes  and  consequent  delays.  If,  in  addition,  the 
commission  takes  an  arbitrary  stand  and  applies  a  co- 
efficient appreciably  lower  than  the  sinistre  had  the 
right  to  expect  or  the  advance  payment  of  money  rea- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS     203 

sonably  implied,  the  unhappy  situation  so  graphically 
sketched  by  M.  d'Aubigny  in  his  report  inevitably 
arises. 

A  good  deal  of  adverse  criticism  was  evoked  by  a 
circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions, 
issued  in  the  spring  of  1921,  advising  the  cantonal 
commissions  and  the  technical  experts  associated  with 
them  that,  in  his  opinion,  no  building  ought  thereafter 
to  be  reconstructed  with  a  coefficient  greater  than  3.25 
— the  same  figure  which  the  budget  commission  had 
adopted  as  an  average  in  estimating  the  total  cost  of 
reconstruction.  It  was  at  once  objected  that,  while  it 
might  be  possible  in  other  departments  to  build  in 
1921  at  only  three  and  one-fourth  times  the  cost  of 
building  in  1914,  the  added  cost  of  material,  labor,  and 
transport  in  the  invaded  departments,  due  in  part  to 
distance  and  the  lack  of  labor  and  housing,  made  such 
a  figure  prohibitive.  The  desire  of  the  ministry  to 
keep  down  the  cost  of  reconstruction  by  adopting  as 
low  a  coefficient  as  possible  is  easily  understood.  It  is 
also  clear  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  administration, 
a  coefficient  which  is  the  same  for  all  departments  is 
easier  to  apply  than  varying  coefficients  for  different 
departments  or  different  kinds  of  building.  The  force 
of  the  circular  was  weakened,  however,  by  the  fact 
that  the  ministry  itself  was  not  consistent.  In  May, 
1920,  for  example,  the  technical  committee  of  the 
Marne  had  divided  that  department  into  three  zones, 
with  a  different  scale  of  coefficients  for  each  zone.  In 
March,  1921,  the  zones  were  abolished  and  the  depart- 
ment was  treated  as  a  whole,  but  with  coefficients 
varying  from  3.50  francs  to  5  francs  on  the  basis  of 


204  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

1914  values  for  different  classes  of  work,  together  with 
supplements  of  from  one  to  ten  centimes  for  expenses 
of  transport.1  A  system  which  was  desirable  for  the 
Marne  could  hardly  be  wholly  undesirable  for  the 
other  invaded  departments. 

The  proposal  has  been  made,  as  a  solution  of  the 
problem,  that  the  cantonal  commissions  should  agree 
upon  the  damages  to  be  awarded  for  rebuilding  during 
a  period  of  twelve  months^  using  the  coefficients  ap- 
plicable at  the  time  the  award  is  made,  and  that  the 
oversight  of  the  work  should  be  intrusted  to  the  co- 
operative reconstruction  societies  which  have  now 
been  organized  in  most  of  the  cantons.2  It  is  urged 
that  the  actual  coefficients  would  probably  not  change 
much  in  twelve  months,  especially  where  work  was 
done  under  contract.  If  for  any  reason  the  work  pro- 
posed was  not  completed  within  the  period  named,  the 
unfinished  portion  could  be  evaluated  at  the  end  of  the 
year  and  other  coefficients,  if  necessary,  applied.  The 
success  of  such  a  plan  would  depend  mainly  upon  two 
things:  prompt  action  by  the  commissions  in  evalu- 
ating damages,  and  prompt  and  regular  payments  by 
the  state  through  the  prefects.  For  the  dilatory  meth- 
ods of  the  cantonal  commissions  no  effective  remedy 
has  been  found.  The  prompt  payment  of  indemnities, 
on  the  other  hand,  presents  no  difficulties  once  the 
claims  of  sinistres  are  fixed,  since  the  annual  credits 
voted  by  Parliament  for  the  liberated  regions  are  at 
least  as  great  as  can  be  properly  spent,  and  the  Credit 
National,  through  which  payments  are  effected,  has 

1  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberies,  March  19,  1921. 
3M.  Andre  Tardieu  in  L' Illustration,  June  4,  1921. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  CRITICS      205 

from  the  first  dealt  with  businesslike  efficiency  with 
the  claims  that  have  reached  it. 

The  burden  of  criticism  of  the  reconstruction  pro- 
gram, in  short,  rests  in  the  last  analysis  upon  the 
cantonal  commissions  and  the  excessive  formalities  of 
official  red  tape.  It  is  not  easy  to  see,  as  has  already 
been  said,  how  a  better  system  than  that  of  the  com- 
missions could  have  been  devised.  As  for  administra- 
tive formalities,  they  are  not  in  general  appreciably 
greater  than  those  which  characterize  every  branch  of 
government  service  in  France.  It  is  perhaps  reason- 
able to  hope  that,  under  the  pressure  of  public  opinion 
and  the  abolition  of  needless  requirements  by  the  Min- 
istry of  the  Liberated  Regions,  the  work  of  the  com- 
missions may  be  speeded  sufficiently  to  allow  all  the 
primary  work  of  evaluating  damages  to  be  disposed  of 
by  the  end  of  1922. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES 

For  many  years  before  the  war  cooperative  societies 
for  buying  and  selling  had  played  an  important  part  in 
the  life  of  country  districts  and  villages  in  all  parts  of 
France,  and  associations  or  syndicates  of  farmers  had 
done  something  to  improve  agricultural  methods  and 
safeguard  the  interests  of  farmers  in  matters  of  legisla- 
tion. The  political  importance  of  the  organizations 
was  considerable,  and  did  not  noticeably  diminish  even 
though  the  agricultural  population  declined.  Beyond 
this  point,  however,  the  idea  of  cooperation  did  not 
grow.  It  was  not  easy  for  the  French  farmer  to  co- 
operate. By  nature  an  extreme  individualist,  jealous 
of  his  rights  and  privileges,  and  invincibly  attached  to 
the  soil  which  he  and  his  ancestors  had  cultivated  for 
generations  and  which  would  pass  to  his  descendants 
when  he  died,  the  farmer  looked  with  pronounced  sus- 
picion upon  every  proposal  for  dealing  with  the  gov- 
ernment through  third  parties,  and  could  not  easily  be 
induced  to  confide  to  any  organization  the  protection 
of  his  property  or  his  affairs.  It  was  the  same  with  the 
small  merchants  and  artisans,  and  with  the  towns- 
people who  drew  their  modest  incomes  from  rents  or 
investments.  What  they  had  was  their  own,  and  they 
preferred  to  administer  it  themselves.  The  cooperative 
spirit  hardly  existed.  The  successful  establishment  of 
cooperative  societies  for  reconstruction  was,  accord- 
ingly,  a   triumph   which   one   who   does   not   know 

206 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  207 

the  rural  and  provincial  life  of  France  cannot  easily 
appreciate. 

The  way  was  undoubtedly  in  part  prepared  by  the 
growth  of  trade  unions  among  the  industrial  workers 
and  the  corresponding  development  of  syndicates  of 
employers,  and  by  the  new  sense  of  common  effort, 
common  sacrifice  and  suffering,  and  personal  comrade- 
ship born  of  the  war.  Men  and  women  who  had 
worked  together  in  a  mighty  effort  to  save  the  nation 
found  it  easier  to  work  together  to  save  themselves. 
The  immediate  occasion  for  the  organization  of  a  new 
cooperation,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the  ignorance 
and  misunderstandings  of  great  numbers  of  sinistres  in 
the  presence  of  reconstruction,  the  complicated  dossiers 
which  the  preparation  of  damage  claims  involved,  an- 
noying controversies  with  architects,  contractors,  and 
government  agents,  difficulties  in  obtaining  building 
material,  supplies,  and  labor,  and  the  frequent  at- 
tempts of  the  government  to  beat  down  claims.  Theo- 
retically, perhaps,  the  course  marked  out  for  the  sin- 
istres in  all  these  matters  was  clear  and  well-defined, 
but  in  practice  the  sinistre  often  found  himself  ens 
meshed  in  troubles  from  which  he  could  not  by  his  own 
efforts  hope  to  escape.  It  was  to  deal  with  this  situa- 
tion that  the  cooperative  reconstruction  societies  were 
formed.  As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  a  few  leading  sin- 
istres framed  the  proposals  and  directed  the  work  of 
organization,  but  with  remarkable  unanimity  the  great 
majority  of  sinistres  except  the  industrials  acquiesced. 
The  larger  industrial  sinistres,  possessed  of  organiza- 
tions and  resources  of  their  own,  have  never  been  a 
part  of  the  cooperative  movement  and  were  not  in  gen- 
eral in  need  of  its  assistance. 


208  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  full  legal  recognition  of  cooperative  reconstruc- 
tion societies  in  their  present  form  dates  only  from 
August  15,  1920,  when  the  organization  and  powers  of 
such  societies  were  for  the  first  time  regulated  by  law. 
Very  early  in  the  war,  however,  the  formation  of 
groups  of  sinistres  had  been  begun,  and  by  1919  an 
active  campaign  was  in  progress  in  a  number  of  de- 
partments for  the  spread  of  the  idea.  Among  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  special  mention  should  be 
made  of  the  Marquis  de  Lubersac,  now  senator  from 
the  Aisne,  to  whose  energy  and  devotion  the  coopera- 
tive societies  have  from  the  beginning  been  deeply  in- 
debted. A  pamphlet  prepared  by  M.  Francis  Delaisi * 
and  issued  under  the  joint  auspices  of  the  society 
known  as  La  Renaissance  des  Cites  and  a  bureau  of  the 
American  Red  Cross,  expounded  forcibly  the  need  and 
value  of  cooperation  for  reconstruction  purposes  and 
outlined  the  way  in  which  cooperative  societies  should 
be  formed.  Although  the  societies  organized  before 
1920  appear  to  have  had  no  definite  legal  basis,  and 
were  consequently  to  be  regarded  as  informal  agents  of 
the  sinistres  rather  than  as  bodies  with  an  independent 
place  in  the  general  scheme  of  reconstruction,  they 
nevertheless  were  early  given  official  recognition  by 
the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  and  typical 
forms  of  statutes  were  prepared  which,  if  adopted  by  a 
society,  received  ministerial  approval.  The  societies 
were  allowed  to  receive  on  behalf  of  their  members  the 
advances  granted  by  the  government  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  dossiers,  and  also  the  first  advance  of  twenty 
per  cent,  toward  the  cost  of  rebuilding.    A  circular  of 

*  La  Cooperative  de  Construction. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  209 

December  22,  I919,1  required  them  to  choose  archi- 
tects, if  any  were  employed,  from  lists  which  had  re- 
ceived ministerial  approval. 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that  none  of  the  societies 
possessed  any  capital  and  none  were  organized  for 
profit.  Their  small  necessary  expenses  were  met  from 
membership  contributions  of  sinistres,  and  member- 
ship was  entirely  voluntary.  There  were  neither  re- 
bates nor  commissions.  If  by  good  fortune  or  good 
management  a  piece  of  work  which  a  society  undertook 
to  perform  for  a  sinistre  was  executed  for  less  than  the 
amount  of  the  indemnity  allowed,  the  balance  did  not 
accrue  to  the  society,  but  remained  available  for  the 
sinistre  if  he  could  show  that  the  whole  indemnity  was 
ultimately  to  be  reemployed.  The  societies,  in  short, 
were  merely  extra-legal  organizations  to  which  their 
members  delegated  certain  powers  as  agents,  and  which 
the  government  recognized  because  they  were  obvi- 
ously useful. 

In  order,  apparently,  to  eliminate  from  other  unions 
or  associations  of  sinistres  the  possibility  of  profit,  and 
to  assimilate  all  such  organizations  to  the  cooperative 
type,  a  ministerial  circular  of  May  25,  1920,  directed 
that  the  members  of  such  associations  should  be  al- 
lowed the  benefits  of  the  existing  system  of  advances 
only  in  case  they  were  composed  entirely  of  sinistres, 
submitted  their  statutes  for  ministerial  approval,  had 
their  offices  in  the  devastated  regions,  limited  their 
work  to  the  preparation  of  dossiers  of  damages  for 
their  members,  prohibited  profits,  and  agreed  to  accept 

further  elaborated  on  December  24.  The  Minister  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions  at  this  time  was  M.  Andre  Tardieu. 


210  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

administrative  control  and  financial  supervision.  Cap- 
ital already  invested,  however,  was  to  be  entitled  to  a 
fair  remuneration. 

All  of  these  preliminary  arrangements  were  revised 
and  the  matter  given  permanent  form  by  the  law  of 
August  15,  1920.1  The  law,  elaborated  from  a  primi- 
tive proposal  of  M.  Ogier,  then  Minister  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions,  authorized  the  formation  of  coopera- 
tive societies  of  sinistres  for  the  purpose  of  taking  part, 
for  the  benefit  of  their  members,  in  all  the  operations 
involved  in  the  reconstruction  of  buildings  or  other 
real  property,  including  the  preparation  of  dossiers, 
the  evaluation  of  damages,  the  execution,  supervision, 
and  payment  of  reconstruction  work,  and  the  reem- 
ployment of  advances.  The  societies,  which  were  given 
the  status  of  civil  persons  for  legal  purposes,  were  to 
continue  in  existence  as  long  as  the  work  for  which 
they  were  formed  remained  to  be  done,  and  were  not  to 
be  dissolved  before  that  time  save  for  grave  cause  and 
by  the  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  members.  Control 
of  the  affairs  of  a  society  wras  vested  in  a  general  as- 
sembly, comprising  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members 
and  representing  also  at  least  one-half  of  the  total 
amount  of  the  indemnities  in  which  the  society  was 
interested.  Administrative  control,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  in  the  hands  of  a  council,  from  which  any  member 
who  had  entered  into  any  contract  with  the  society 
was  excluded.  The  funds  of  the  society  were  limited 
to  contributions  toward  expenses  made  by  members, 
payments  made  by  the  state  for  the  benefit  of  sin- 
istres, and  gifts  or  legacies.  An  account  with  the 
society  was  to  be  opened  with  the  agencies  through 

1See  Appendix  C. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  211 

which  state  payments  were  made  (i.e.,  the  Credit  Na- 
tional), and  the  society  itself  was  to  open  an  account 
with  each  of  its  members.  The  members  might  not 
withdraw  so  long  as  any  indemnities  received  for 
them  by  the  society  were  still  unemployed  or  while 
work  which  had  been  undertaken  for  them  was  in 
progress. 

Each  society  was  privileged  to  determine  for  itself 
the  order  in  which  reconstruction  work  should  be 
undertaken.  For  the  purposb  of  defraying  general 
expenses  a  grant  was  to  be  made  by  the  state,  varying 
from  one  per  cent,  on  work  not  exceeding  500,000 
francs  in  value  to  fifteen  one-hundredths  of  one  per 
cent,  when  the  value  of  the  work  exceeded  200,000,000 
francs;  in  other  words,  the  larger  the  contract  the 
smaller  the  percentage  of  contribution  by  the  state. 
Special  grants  for  the  establishment  of  revolving  funds 
were  also  provided  for,  and  contracts  for  the  clearing  of 
debris  might  be  made  with  a  society  by  the  state.  De- 
partments, communes,  and  public  institutions  as  well 
as  individuals  might  become  members,  and  unions  of 
societies  might  be  formed  for  buying,  selling,  centraliz- 
ing accounts,  or  other  appropriate  purposes.  The  law 
was  made  applicable  to  the  new  departments  of  the 
Moselle,  Haut-Rhin,  and  Bas-Rhin  as  well  as  to  those 
of  the  liberated  regions. 

These  were  the  general  provisions.  In  order  to 
benefit  by  the  financial  provisions  of  the  law,  however, 
a  cooperative  society  must  be  officially  approved.  Such 
approval  was  to  be  granted  on  four  conditions.  The 
statutes  of  the  society  must  conform  in  all  essential 
respects  to  typical  statutes  drawn  up  by  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions;  the  selection  of  architects 


212  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

and  contractors  must  be  made  from  a  list  approved 
for  each  department,  the  societies  themselves,  how- 
ever, having  a  voice  in  the  approval  of  names;  there 
was  to  be  state  supervision  of  accounts;  and  not  more 
than  one  society  was  to  be  formed  in  a  commune 
unless  the  losses  of  its  members,  calculated  on  the 
basis  of  values  in  1914,  amounted  to  at  least  one  mil- 
lion francs.  Any  of  the  existing  societies  formed  for 
reconstruction  purposes,  whether  of  the  cooperative 
type  or  not,  might  obtain  ministerial  approval  by  con- 
forming to  these  conditions. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  law  of  August  15  did  not 
legislate  other  associations  than  the  cooperative  soci- 
eties out  of  existence.  It  merely  denied  to  them  the 
privilege  of  acting  for  the  sinistres  in  any  financial 
matters  connected  with  the  payment  of  indemnities  or 
their  reemployment.  Moreover,  membership  in  a  co- 
operative reconstruction  society  was  not  made  compul- 
sory: the  war  damages  law  of  April  17,  1919,  was  still 
the  fundamental  law  for  every  sinistra,  and  the  only 
claim  of  the  cooperative  society  to  support  was  its 
ability  to  do  for  the  sinistre  what  he  could  not  easily 
do  for  himself.  By  requiring  a  cooperative  society  to 
open  an  account  with  each  of  its  members  the  law 
emphasized  the  fact  that  the  society  acted  under  a 
mandate  given  by  the  sinistre,  with  the  sole  object  of 
aiding  him  to  safeguard  his  rights  and  carry  out  his 
wishes  in  the  matter  of  rebuilding.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  sinistre  who  joined  a  cooperative  society 
became  thereby  a  member  of  a  body  whose  sole  func- 
tion it  was  to  push  the  claims  of  its  members  as  a 
whole,  to  deal  with  contracts  collectively  in  accordance 
with  a  carefuly  prepared  program,  and  to  represent 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  213 

the  sinistre  in  the  complicated  transactions  which  the 
administrative  system  involved. 

The  issuance  in  October  of  decrees  interpreting  and 
applying  the  provisions  of  the  law  and  prescribing  the 
general  form  of  statutes  to  be  adopted  by  the  indi- 
vidual societies  was  followed  by  other  ministerial  cir- 
culars regulating  the  system  of  accounts,  the  procedure 
for  the  approval  of  the  societies  which  wished  to  take 
advantage  of  the  law,  and  the  application  of  the  law 
to  the  new  departments  of  the  Moselle,  Haut-Rhin, 
and  Bas-Rhin.  The  method  of  compiling  lists  of  ap- 
proved architects  and  contractors  was  made  the  sub- 
ject of  an  elaborate  circular  on  January  11,  1921.  The 
first  published  list,  comprising  forty-three  names  of 
architects,  was  that  of  the  Nord  department. 

In  applying  the  financial  provisions  of  the  law  of 
August  15  the  state  undertook  to  advance  to  each  ap- 
proved society  with  at  least  seven  members  50  francs 
per  member,  the  total  amount,  however,  to  be  not  less 
than  500  francs  nor  more  than  3,000  francs.  The 
revolving  funds  were  to  be  paid  only  after  the  approval 
by  the  prefect  of  the  program  of  work  submitted  by 
the  society,  and  were  not  to  exceed  25  per  cent,  of  the 
total  credit  allowed  for  the  work  proposed.  As  this 
advance  represented  the  sum  of  the  advances  to  which 
the  individual  members  of  the  society  were  entitled, 
all  individual  advances  to  members  were  of  course  dis- 
continued. Payments  were  not  made  in  cash,  but 
credits  for  the  amounts  advanced  were  opened  with  a 
designated  branch  of  the  Credit  National,  the  society 
drawing  upon  this  credit  by  means  of  checks.  The 
installments  of  the  revolving  funds  were  regarded  as 
having  been  repaid  when  the  society  presented  proper 


214  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

evidence  that  the  work  in  question  had  been  com- 
pleted, but  the  grant  of  further  credit  would  serve  to 
recreate  the  fund.  Contracts  between  the  societies 
and  approved  architects  and  contractors  were  regarded 
as  private  matters  in  which  the  state  was  not  con- 
cerned, although  model  forms  of  contract  were  drawn 
up  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  for  the 
benefit  of  such  societies  as  chose  to  use  them. 

The  reorganization  of  the  societies  under  the  new  law 
went  on  rapidly.  In  the  department  of  the  Marne,  for 
example,  214  of  the  268  communes  which  had  suffered 
during  the  war  were  in  a  position,  by  virtue  of  the 
importance  of  the  losses  which  they  had  sustained,  to 
form  cooperative  reconstruction  societies.  Before  the 
adoption  of  the  law  of  August  15,  1920,  there  were  in 
existence  in  that  department  147  societies  representing 
210  communes.  By  the  middle  of  June,  1921,  132 
societies  representing  207  communes  had  been  reor- 
ganized, and  of  that  number  128,  representing  204 
communes,  had  been  approved.  The  members  of  these 
approved  societies  numbered  9,456,  while  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  the  losses  sustained,  on  the  basis  of 
values  in  1914  and  not  counting  the  increased  cost  of 
replacement,  was  338,458,000  francs.  All  of  the  ap- 
proved societies  had  adopted  plans  of  rebuilding  for 
1921,  the  aggregate  amount  involved  being  about  250,- 
000,000  francs.  The  system  of  advances  for  revolving 
funds  had  been  established  for  the  department  on 
April  1,  and  since  that  date  25,115,080  francs  had  been 
paid  to  the  societies.1 

The  weekly  Bulletin  of  the  Liberated  Regions  for 
1921  contains  frequent  lists  of  societies  which  had 

1  Bulletin  des  Regions  Liberees,  June  15,  1921. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  215 

been  given  ministerial  approval.  On  May  7,  for  ex- 
ample, 23  societies  in  the  Ardennes  were  accepted;  on 
May  15,  63  societies  in  the  Meuse;  on  May  26,  98  soci- 
eties in  the  Aisne;  on  May  28,  18  additional  societies 
in  the  Ardennes;  on  June  11,  9  societies  in  the  Pas-de- 
Calais;  on  June  27,  10  societies  in  the  Somme.  In  the 
department  of  the  Aisne  there  were,  on  September  20, 
245  approved  societies,  representing  war  damages  to 
the  amount  (value  in  1914)  of  622,000,000  francs. 

The  law  of  August  15  authorized  the  societies  to 
group  themselves  in  unions,  and  numerous  such  unions, 
with  the  arrondissement  as  the  basis,  were  presently 
formed.  In  the  Marne  two  unions  had  been  formed  by 
June,  1921,  one  of  35  rural  societies  in  the  arrondisse- 
ment of  Reims,  the  other  of  18  societies  in  the  valley 
of  the  Marne.  The  Laon  union,  in  the  Aisne,  com- 
prised in  October  85  societies,  representing  actual  losses 
of  232,000,000  francs  and  a  reconstruction  cost  of  more 
than  four  times  that  amount;  the  Soissons  union,  64 
societies  with  240,000,000  francs  of  damages;  the  St. 
Quentin  union,  15  societies  with  240,000,000  francs  of 
damages ;  the  Vervins  union,  54  societies  and  75,000,000 
francs  of  damages;  and  the  union  of  Chateau-Thierry, 
31  societies  with  damages  of  48,000,000  francs. 

In  July,  1921,  the  legal  status  of  the  unions  was 
regulated  on  lines  similar  to  those  laid  down  for 
the  individual  societies,  and  state  subventions  were 
granted1  at  the  rate  of  2,000  francs  per  annum  for 
each  member  society  up  to  ten,  1,000  francs  for  each 
such  member  society  from  11  to  30,  800  francs  each  for 
from  31  to  40,  600  francs  each  for  from  41  to  50,  500 
francs  for  from  51  to  100,  and  300  francs  for  each 

1  Decree  of  August  29,  applying  the  law  of  July  12. 


216  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

member  society  over  one  hundred.  The  unions  were 
also  allowed  to  contract  loans  on  the  same  basis  as  indi- 
vidual sinistres  in  accordance  with  the  budget  law  of 
July  31,  1920,  already  referred  to.1 

The  next  step  in  organization  was  the  grouping  of 
unions  in  departmental  federations.  With  the  forma- 
tion later  of  a  confederation  representing  the  federa- 
tions of  all  the  invaded  departments,  the  organization 
of  the  sinistres  was  made  complete. 

A  striking  example  of  what  a  cooperative  recon- 
struction society  was  able  to  accomplish  is  afforded  by 
the  city  of  Reims.  Of  approximately  13,800  buildings 
of  all  Junds  in  Reims  in  July,  1914,  13,500  were  dwell- 
ings. 8,600  buildings  of  various  kinds  were  totally 
destroyed,  and  all  of  the  remainder  were  more  or  less 
injured.  The  total  of  war  damages,  distributed  among 
7,000  property  holders,  was  estimated  at  300,000,000 
francs  on  the  basis  of  values  in  1914,  equivalent  to 
about  1,200,000,000  francs  in  cost  of  replacement. 
Down  to  the  beginning  of  September,  1921,  3,000 
buildings  had  been  entirely  restored,  2,850  of  this  num- 
ber being  dwellings.  The  number  of  buildings  to  whose 
restoration,  complete  or  in  progress,  the  cooperative 
society  had  at  that  date  given  its  aid  was  4,500,  and 
for  these  it  had  received  advances  from  the  state  to 
the  aggregate  of  120,000,000  francs.  These  figures  do 
not  include  industrial  reconstruction  for  the  reason,  as 
has  already  been  stated,  that  industrial  reconstruction 
is  not  within  the  field  of  the  cooperative  societies. 
The  membership  of  the  Reims  society,  which  in  Octo- 
ber, 1919,  numbered  only  thirty,  is  now  more  than 
2,300,  the  society  being  the  largest  in  the  invaded 

*Page  199. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  217 

departments.1  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Reims 
society  in  December  the  president,  the  Marquis  de 
Polignac,  stated  that  the  amount  allotted  to  Reims  for 
reconstruction  purposes  in  1922  would  aggregate  200,- 
000,000  francs,  and  that  if  advances  at  this  rate  con- 
tinued and  architects  and  contractors  did  their  part, 
the  complete  restoration  of  the  city  might  be  antici- 
pated in  six  or  seven  years. 

One  of  the  important  services  which  the  cooperative 
societies  rendered  to  the  cause  of  reconstruction  was 
that  of  criticism  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions.  Had  that  ministry  functioned  as  well  in  fact 
as  its  voluminous  output  of  circulars  and  instructions 
might  lead  one  to  suppose,  the  cooperative  effort  of 
sinistres  might  not  have  been  necessary ;  but  its  short- 
comings, if  not  always  avoidable,  were  nevertheless 
numerous  and  irritating,  and  official  pronouncements 
did  not  always  remedy  the  difficulties  with  which  they 
dealt.  The  unions  and  departmental  federations  of  co- 
operatives attacked  the  problem  persistently.  They 
pointed  out  the  dilatory  and  unsystematic  methods  of 
the  cantonal  commissions.  They  questioned  the  acts 
of  technical  experts  and  administrative  agents  and  the 
rulings  of  prefects,  resisted  the  arbitrary  imposition  of 
coefficients,  and  claimed  from  the  state  the  full  and 
fair  performance  of  all  that  the  state  undertook  to  do. 
They  insisted  upon  competency  and  honesty  in  archi- 
tects and  contractors,  and  exposed  unfair  practices  and 
excessive  charges  wherever  such  appeared.2     It  is  to 

'I  am  indebted  to  M.  Georges  Marret,  general  secretary  of  the 
Reims  society,  for  these  figures. 

aIn  September,  1921,  the  departmental  federation  of  the  Aisne 
protested  against  "the  scandalous  exaggeration  of  the  scale  of  pay- 
ments  to   experts   designated   by   the    cantonal    commission,"   and 


218  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  credit  of  the  present  minister,  M.  Loucheur,  that  in 
spite  of  all  the  attacks  to  which  the  ministry  was  sub- 
jected, he  has  cooperated  cordially  with  the  societies, 
and  has  rarely  failed  to  take  their  point  of  view  once  a 
case  has  been  fully  presented  and  discussed. 

What  has  just  been  said  can  best  be  illustrated  by  a 
few  examples  taken  from  the  proceedings  of  local  soci- 
eties, unions,  and  federations. 

The  following  vote  is  taken  from  the  records  of  the 
cooperative  reconstruction  society  of  Chassemy,  a 
small  village  in  the  Aisne: 

"The  members  of  the  Chassemy  cooperative,  assembled  in 
general  session  on  October  14,  1921,  as  required  by  law, 
being  desirous  of  insuring  the  methodical  continuation  of 
the  work  now  in  hand  and  also  of  aiding,  to  the  extent  of 
its  ability,  in  its  prompt  completion,   earnestly   requests 

M. ,  their  architect,  whose  demonstrated  competency 

they  recognize,  to  give  a  large  part  of  his  attention  to  the 
organization  of  the  work  as  a  whole  and  the  coordination 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  undertaking,  and  this  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  cooperative  no  less  than  from  that  of 
the  general  contractor;  and  they  accordingly  ask  him,  being 
convinced  that  the  amount  of  his  remuneration  is  such  as 
to  admit  of  the  sacrifice,  to  organize  definitively  and  as 
soon  as  possible  in  the  village,  as  he  has  from  the  beginning 
intended  to  do,  an  office  where  the  members  of  the  society 
may  find  him  or  his  representative  on  fixed  days.  They 
attach  the  greatest  importance  to  this  request  and  beg  the 
honor  of  a  reply." 

The  general  assembly  of  the  cooperative  of  Coucy- 
le-Chateau,  at  a  meeting  on  May  29,  1921,  expressed 
its  opinion  as  follows  regarding  the  cantonal  com- 
mission : 

demanded  better  guaranty  regarding  the  method  of  choosing  such 
experts. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  219 

"In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  dossiers  of  war  damages 
have  all  been  filed; 

"In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  cantonal  commission  has 
not  yet  examined  any  dossier  of  real  property,  and  that  it 
is  indispensable  that  the  sinistres  be  apprised  as  soon  as 
possible  of  the  amount  of  their  losses  and  indemnities; 

"We  express  the  opinion  that  the  cantonal  commission  of 
Coucy-le-Chateau  ought  to  comprise  an  active,  stable,  and 
competent  personnel,  to  the  end  that  it  may  decide  without 
delay  upon  the  actual  loss  sustained,  leaving  if  necessary  to 
a  later  date  the  evaluation  of  supplementary  costs  [of  re- 
building]." 

The  official  organ  of  the  Aisne  federation  published 

the  foregoing  resolution  with  this  comment: 

"We  are  heartily  in  accord  with  the  desires  of  the  sorely- 
tried  population  of  Coucy-le-Chateau,  and  we  hope  that 
satisfaction  will  promptly  be  given.  We  nevertheless  make 
some  reservations  regarding  the  last  clause,  deeming  the 
main  thing  to  be  the  full  application  of  the  law  of  April  17, 
1919.  The  commissions  must  decide  upon  both  the  actual 
loss  and  the  supplementary  costs,  first  because  that  is  the 
law  and  in  that  law  alone  is  to  be  found  our  sole  plank  of 
safety;  second,  because  the  cantonal  commissions  have  al- 
ready spent  too  much  time  in  considering  the  dossiers,  and  if 
they  have  to  sit  twice  for  the  same  object  they  will  never 
get  through." 

The  following  vote  was  adopted  by  the  Bethune 

union  on  August  22,  1921 : 

"The  Federation  of  Cooperative  Reconstruction  societies 
of  the  Bethune  arrondissement  regrets  that  the  prefecture 
of  the  Pas-de-Calais  has  not  yet  put  in  force  the  new  scale 
[of  prices]  for  reconstruction  promised  a  long  time  ago,  and 
urgently  requests  that  this  new  scale  be  put  into  effect 
without  delay  and  communicated  to  the  cooperatives,  and 
that,  following  the  example  of  neighboring  departments,  it 
may  be  kept  up  to  date  by  monthly  publication." 

These  illustrations,  which  could  easily  be  multiplied 
many  times,  will  suffice  for  the  critical  side.    In  the 


220  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

main,  however,  the  cooperative  societies  have  devoted 
themselves  to  helping  on  in  every  way  possible  the 
work  of  reconstruction.  Their  activities  in  that  direc- 
tion have  been  as  multifarious  as  the  task  itself  has 
been  large.  They  have  aided  in  the  preparation  of  the 
dossiers  of  war  damages  for  their  members;  elaborated 
systems  of  accounting;  made  contracts  for  clearing 
debris  (deblaiement) ,  the  initiative  in  such  work  being 
devolved  by  the  ministry  exclusively  upon  the  societies 
or  upon  individual  sinistres;  undertaken  by  contract 
the  repair  or  erection  of  buildings ; 1  received  and  ex- 
pended the  funds  provided  by  the  state  for  the  payment 
of  damages;  dealt  with  the  questions  of  reemployment 
of  indemnities,  coefficients,  supplies  of  material,  pro- 
vision of  labor  and  transport,  the  employment  of  archi- 
tects, and  the  superintendence  of  construction;  ar- 
ranged for  the  utilization  of  stocks  of  material  and  mer- 
chandise remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions;  investigated  local  prices  of  labor 
and  charges  for  hotel  accommodations  and  the  use  of 
horses,  wagons,  and  trucks;  and  studied  the  applica- 
tion of  sanitary  laws  in  the  devastated  departments. 
The  general  assemblies  of  the  societies,  held  at  regular 
intervals,  have  been  open  forums  for  the  discussion  of 
all  questions  in  which  the  members  were  interested, 
and  pains  have  been  taken  to  explain  the  requirements 
of  laws,  decrees,  and  ministerial  circulars  and  to  insure 
conformity  to  their  provisions.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  wherever  to-day,   throughout  the  liberated 

1On  December  5,  1921,  the  president  of  the  confederation  of 
cooperative  societies  was  able  to  advise  the  affiliated  groups  that  the 
full  amount  of  the  credits  required  to  pay  for  the  work  performed 
in  1921  was  in  the  hands  of  the  prefects,  and  that  the  credits  neces- 
sary for  the  payment  in  1922  of  work  equal  in  amount  to  that  of 
1921  were  also  available. 


WORK  OF  THE  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  221 

regions,  the  progress  in  the  reconstruction  of  non-in- 
dustrial property  is  most  rapid,  an  energetic  and  well- 
administered  cooperative  society  will  be  found  to  be 
chiefly  responsible. 

Not  all  of  the  sinistres  are  members  of  cooperative 
societies,  and  not  all  of  the  societies  are  members  of 
the  arrondissement  unions.  A  small  percentage  of 
sinistres  have  preferred  to  act  independently,  and  a  few 
societies  still  remain  outside  of  the  unions  because 
their  statutes  have  not  yet  been  approved.  Generally 
speaking,  however,  all  of  the  larger  associations  and 
most  of  the  smaller  ones  have  joined  the  movement. 
Membership  in  the  unions  has  been  made  particularly 
desirable  by  the  recent  action  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions  in  putting  isolated  societies  on  the 
same  footing  as  isolated  sinistres,  as  well  as  by  the 
further  fact  that  none  of  the  financial  benefits  accorded 
by  the  law  of  1920  can  be  enjoyed  by  societies  which 
are  not  approved.  A  ministerial  circular  of  December 
15,  1921,  directed  the  prefects  to  insure  the  examina- 
tion by  the  proper  administrative  agents,  during  the 
first  three  months  of  1922,  of  the  dossiers  of  all  mem- 
bers of  cooperative  societies  for  whom  the  societies  had 
planned  to  do  work  during  that  year. 

The  contrast  between  the  reconstruction  work  done 
under  the  direction  of  cooperative  societies  and  that 
done  under  the  ordinary  routine  of  the  state  is 
a  further  tangible  argument  which  has  not  passed 
unnoticed.  One  has  only  to  compare  such  a  vil- 
lage as  Chassemy,  almost  completely  destroyed  by 
the  war,  but  to-day,  thanks  to  a  cooperative  society 
capably  administered,  about  two-thirds  rebuilt  in  solid 
and  attractive  style,  with  the  neighboring  village  of 


222  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Sarcy  where,  with  no  cooperative  but  with  full  liberty 
for  the  individual  employment  of  architects  and  con- 
tractors, there  has  been  but  little  rebuilding  and  much 
of  that  little  poorly  done,  to  realize  the  practical  value 
of  cooperation. 

The  laws  of  August,  1920,  and  July,  1921,  establish- 
ing the  legal  bases  of  the  cooperative  reconstruction 
societies  and  unions,  recognized  the  essentially  tem- 
porary character  of  the  organizations  by  providing  that 
the  period  of  their  existence  should  be  determined  by 
the  completion  of  the  work  which  they  were  formed 
to  do.  A  considerable  number  of  the  organizations 
have  fixed  the  period  of  their  duration  at  five  years. 
In  September,  1921,  M.  Loucheur,  Minister  of  the 
Liberated  Regions,  expressed  to  the  interparliamentary 
group  of  senators  and  deputies  from  the  invaded  de- 
partments the  hope  that  the  work  of  the  cantonal 
commissions  in  the  evaluation  of  damages  would  be 
completed  by  September,  1922.  If  this  hope  is 
realized,  it  is  perhaps  reasonable  to  expect  that  the 
restoration  of  private  buildings,  other  than  industrial 
establishments,  will  have  been  mainly  completed 
within  three  or  four  years  after  that  date.1  By  1925 
or  1926,  accordingly,  most  of  the  cooperative  societies 
will  probably  have  closed  up  their  affairs.  There  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  continue  after  their  work  is 
done,  but  the  record  of  their  cooperative  service  will 
continue  to  be  read  in  the  homes  and  shops  which  they 
will  have  helped  to  rebuild  and  in  the  community  life 
which  they  will  have  helped  to  restore. 

1  In  November,  in  an  address  to  a  delegation  of  mayors  from  the 
devastated  communes,  M.  Loucheur  stated  that  six  years  was  the 
shortest  period  within  which  the  completion  of  reconstruction  could 
be  hoped  for  (Paris  Matin,  November  18). 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS 

Long  before  the  war  most  of  the  public  and  many  of 
the  private  buildings  in  France  which  possessed  special 
historical  or  artistic  value  and  interest  had  been  classed 
as  monuments  and  taken  under  the  special  supervision 
of  the  state.  The  list  included  most  of  the  older 
churches  and  cathedrals,  town  halls  (hotels  de  ville), 
numerous  chateaux  and  palaces,  and  many  houses  or 
other  structures  illustrative  of  architectural  develop- 
ment or  associated  with  notable  historical  events  or  the 
lives  of  famous  men  and  women.  In  some  cases  the 
entire  cost  of  repairs  and  maintenance  was  assumed  by 
the  state;  where  monuments  were  privately  owned  the 
state  exercised  control  over  all  repairs  and  architectural 
changes.  The  direction  of  this  service  devolved  upon 
the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts. 

The  so-called  separation  law  of  December  9,  1905, 
which  terminated  the  connection  hitherto  existing 
between  church  and  state  in  France,  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  church  all  the  buildings  used  for  religious  pur- 
poses to  which  the  church  had  title,  and  devolved  upon 
the  church  the  maintenance  of  the  properties  subject, 
however,  to  continued  state  approval  in  the  case  of 
monuments.  If  the  buildings  were  injured  or  de- 
stroyed, any  indemnities  received  in  compensation  for 
losses — for  example,  the  proceeds  of  fire  insurance — 

223 


224  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

were  required  to  be  used  for  the  reconstruction  of  a 
similar  building  of  the  same  value  as  before  and  des- 
tined for  the  same  purpose. 

The  war  worked  sad  havoc  with  the  monuments  of 
the  invaded  departments.  An  official  list,  not  com- 
plete, shows  about  six  hundred  churches,  cathedrals, 
town  halls,  and  other  buildings  destroyed  or  damaged. 
The  work  of  destruction  reached  its  maximum  in  the 
Aisne,  where  180  monuments  were  injured  or  ruined. 
The  list  includes  the  birthplace  of  La  Fontaine  at 
Chateau-Thierry,  the  thirteenth  century  chateau  at 
Fere-en-Tardenois  remodeled  in  the  sixteenth  century 
by  Anne  de  Montmorency,  constable  of  France;  the 
famous  donjon  at  Coucy-le-Chateau,  the  best  example 
of  medieval  civil  architecture  in  France;  the  cathedral, 
bishop's  house,  and  Knights  Templars'  chapel  at  Laon, 
the  town  hall  at  St.  Quentin,  the  picturesque  remains 
of  the  twelfth  century  Cistercian  abbey  at  Longpont, 
and  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  and  the  abbey  of 
St.  Leger  at  Soissons. 

In  the  Marne,  where  123  monuments  suffered,  the 
greatest  injury  was  done  at  Reims.  The  Reims  list 
includes,  besides  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  the 
palace  and  chapel  of  the  archbishop,  dating  from  the 
fifteenth  century;  the  beautiful  fagade  of  the  town 
hall;  the  Musicians'  House  of  the  thirteenth  century; 
a  group  of  medieval  wooden  houses,  and  the  birthplace 
of  Jean  Baptiste  de  la  Salle,  founder  of  the  teaching 
order  of  Christian  Brothers.  The  cathedral  of  St.  £ti- 
enne  at  Chalons-sur-Marne,  begun  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  also  suffered. 

In  the  Oise  the  monuments  injured  or  destroyed 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS    225 

numbered  71,  among  them  being  the  beautiful  Gothic 
cathedral  of  St.  Peter  at  Beauvais,  begun  in  1227,  and 
the  Roman-Gothic  church  of  St.  fitienne,  dating  from 
the  twelfth  century;  the  fourteenth  century  church  at 
Clermont;  the  palace  or  chateau  at  Compiegne,  long  a 
favorite  residence  of  the  kings  of  France,  together  with 
the  town  hall;  the  twelfth  century  cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame  at  Noyon,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
French  cathedrals,  and  the  town  hall;  and  the  splendid 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Senlis. 

In  the  other  invaded  departments  the  destruction  of 
monuments  was  numerically  less  extensive:  32  in  the 
Pas-de-Calais,  36  in  the  Nord,  35  in  the  Somme,  38  in 
the  Meuse,  37  in  the  Ardennes,  36  in  Meurthe-et- 
Moselle,  and  6  in  the  Vosges.  The  list  includes,  how- 
ever, the  great  cathedral  and  the  belfry  and  facade  of 
the  town  hall  at  Arras;  the  cathedral  at  Cambrai,  the 
belfry  and  town  hall  at  Douai,  the  church  of  St.  Mau- 
rice at  Lille,  the  cathedral  at  Amiens,  the  ancient 
chateau  at  Ham,  the  medieval  chateau  at  Peronne,  the 
town  hall  at  Longwy,  the  cathedral  and  ducal  palace 
at  Nancy,  the  cathedral  at  Toul,  the  Gothic  church  of 
St.  Etienne  at  St.  Mihiel,  the  cathedral,  cloister, 
bishop's  palace,  and  town  hall  at  Verdun,  and  the 
cathedral  at  St.  Die. 

The  total  value  of  the  properties  destroyed  is  esti- 
mated at  about  90(^000,000  francs,  to  which  is  to  be 
added  a  considerable  sumt  as  yet  undetermined,  repre- 
senting the  value  of  art  objects,  furnishings,  and  per- 
sonal property  stolen,  carried  away,  or  destroyed. 

No  money  indemnity  could  ever  make  good  the  loss 
of  historical  association  and  artistic  value  which  the 


226  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

destruction  of  monuments  involved.  A  ruined  church 
or  town  hall  might  be  rebuilt  on  the  same  site  and  even 
in  the  same  form,  but  it  would  be  a  new  building,  not 
the  old  one.  In  scores  of  instances  even  this  measure 
of  restoration  was  impossible,  for  the  buildings  were 
beyond  repair.  The  most  that  could  be  done  was  to 
restore  what  was  susceptible  of  restoration,  leaving  the 
rest  to  stand  in  the  ruin  which  the  war  brought  upon 
them  or  to  be  replaced  in  time  by  other  structures  of 
perhaps  a  different  type. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  exerted  itself  to  pro- 
tect monuments  which  had  been  injured  from  further 
deterioration  and  to  prevent  as  far  as  possible  further 
loss.  Buildings  which  had  been  damaged  or  wrecked 
were  inspected,  temporary  repairs  made,  and  access  to 
buildings  which  were  in  a  dangerous  condition  closed 
by  fences  or  barricades.  Statues  and  parts  of  the 
interior  were  protected  by  thick  piles  of  sandbags,  and 
great  quantities  of  precious  tapestry,  paintings,  plate, 
books,  manuscripts,  and  records  were  sent  for  safety 
to  the  center  and  south  of  France.  The  larger  part  of 
the  best  stained  glass  in  the  cathedrals  at  Amiens  and 
Beauvais  was  also  saved.  Many  fine  pipe  organs,  how- 
ever, were  almost  a  total  loss,  the  metal  pipes  being 
in  a  number  of  cases  appropriated  by  the  Germans 
even  when  the  woodwork  was  spared. 

The  war  damages  law  of  April  17,  1919,  provided 
that,  in  the  case  of  all  buildings  used  for  civil  or 
religious  purposes,  the  indemnity  to  be  paid  should 
be  limited  to  the  amount  necessary  for  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  a  building  of  the  same  character  and  impor- 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS     227 

tance,  designed  for  the  same  uses,  and  embodying  the 
same  guaranties  of  permanence,  as  the  building  de- 
stroyed. If  for  any  reason  the  building  could  not  be 
restored,  the  indemnity  was  to  be  limited  to  the  amount 
necessary  for  the  acquisition  of  a  new  site.  The 
evaluation  of  damages  was  left,  as  in  other  cases,  to 
the  cantonal  commissions  and  the  tribunals  of  the 
arrondissements.  In  the  case  of  monuments,  however, 
the  carrying  out  of  the  conditions  of  restoration  was 
intrusted  to  a  special  commission  under  the  direction 
of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts, 
and  the  credits  necessary  for  reconstruction  were  car- 
ried by  the  budget  of  that  ministry. 

It  will  be  seen  from  what  has  just  been  said  that  the 
law  of  war  damages  recognized  two  classes  of  buildings 
used  for  public  or  religious  purposes,  namely,  those 
which  are  classed  as  monuments  and  those  which  are 
not.  In  the  first  of  these  cases  the  entire  control  of 
restoration,  including  the  decision  as  to  whether  or  not 
restoration  is  possible,  rests  with  the  special  com- 
mission which  the  law  creates.  In  the  second  case  the 
control  of  reconstruction,  whether  the  buildings  belong 
to  associations  or  religious  bodies  or  to  communes  or 
departments,  rests  with  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions.  In  practice,  as  we  shall  see,  the  two  ad- 
ministrations have  sometimes  found  it  necessary  to 
cooperate,  but  for  the  most  part  their  fields  have 
remained  entirely  distinct.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
many  of  the  complicated  questions  involved  in  the 
reemployment  of  indemnities  for  industrial  or  agri- 
cultural purposes  are  not  likely  to  arise  in  the  case  of 
public  buildings  and  churches,  the  implied  permission 


228  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

to  acquire  a  new  site  in  case  a  building  cannot  be 
restored  involves  the  right  of  a  commune  or  depart- 
ment to  expropriate  private  property  in  case  a  suitable 
site  cannot  be  obtained  by  private  arrangement.  The 
Council  of  State  has  officially  decided  that  such  a  right 
exists. 

The  special  commission  provided  for  by  the  law  was 
a  strong  body.  Its  original  membership  comprised  two 
senators  and  three  deputies  elected  by  the  respective 
chambers;  two  members  of  the  French  Academy,  two 
members  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  a  member  of  the 
general  council  for  civil  buildings,  and  two  members  of 
the  Historical  Monuments  Commission ;  one  represen- 
tative each  of  the  ministries  of  Public  Instruction  and 
Fine  Arts,  Finance,  Interior,  Labor,  and  the  Liberated 
Regions;  one  representative  of  each  religious  body  in- 
terested in  the  restoration  of  buildings,  designated  by 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  and  six  artists  designated 
by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts. 
As  at  present  constituted  the  commission  consists  of 
fifty-eight  members,  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction 
and  Fine  Arts  acting  as  president. 

Unlike  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts,  through 
which  the  special  commission  speaks  and  acts,  does  not 
issue  frequent  circulars  of  instructions  to  its  agents  or 
reports  of  work  accomplished.  The  decisions  of  the 
commission  are  communicated  to  the  persons  whose 
business  it  is  to  put  them  into  effect,  and  the  rest  is — 
silence.  There  is,  accordingly,  no  body  of  accessible 
records  to  which  one  may  go  to  discover  what  has  been 
the  policy  of  the  commission  or  what  results  have  been 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS     229 

achieved.  The  policy  of  silence  has  doubtless  served 
very  well  to  conceal  whatever  differences  of  opinion 
have  arisen  regarding  procedure  and  to  ward  off  the 
controversies  which  always  follow  publicity.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  task  which  the 
commission  has  had  to  perform  has  made  it  easier  to 
dispense  with  the  elaborate  formalities  of  procedure 
which  the  restoration  of  industry,  commerce,  and  agri- 
culture has  entailed.  There  has  been  no  question,  in 
the  case  of  monuments,  of  restoring  buildings  in  some 
new  form  or  of  different  material:  the  monuments 
were  to  be  rebuilt  in  their  original  form  in  all  essential 
respects  at  least,  or  they  could  hardly  be  restored  at  all. 
When,  accordingly,  the  commission  had  decided  as  to 
whether  or  not  restoration  was  possible  and  had  re- 
ceived from  the  cantonal  commissions  the  decisions 
regarding  damages,  the  rest  of  its  task  was  compara- 
tively easy.  Drawings  or  photographs  and  often 
detailed  descriptions  of  the  monuments  were  available, 
and  the  plan  of  work  rather  than  its  ultimate  aim  was 
the  main  thing  to  consider. 

The  chief  difficulty  encountered  had  to  do  with  the 
treatment  of  monuments  which  could  not  be  restored, 
either  because  they  had  been  completely  destroyed  or 
because  they  had  been  injured  beyond  possibility  of 
repair.  The  only  legal  provision  applicable  to  such 
cases  was  that  which  limited  the  indemnity  to  the 
amount  necessary  for  the  acquisition  of  a  new  site.  If 
the  building  in  question  was  not  the  property  of  the 
state,  it  would  appear  to  have  been  the  intent  of  the 
law  to  assure  to  the  owners  a  suitable  site  on  which 
to  rebuild,  and  to  allow  condemnation  proceedings  to 


230  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

take  place  if  necessary  to  secure  a  suitable  location; 
but  the  state  did  not  undertake  either  to  pay  for  the 
building  which  had  been  destroyed  or  to  contribute  to 
the  cost  of  erecting  a  new  one.  If  the  owners  decided 
not  to  rebuild  on  another  site,  they  were  apparently 
not  entitled  to  receive  any  indemnity  at  all,  since  under 
the  separation  laws  of  1905  and  1907  the  proceeds  of 
any  indemnities  received  on  account  of  losses  must,  as 
has  already  been  said,  be  applied  to  the  restoration  of 
the  property  in  question  and  could  not  be  used  for 
other  purposes.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  owners 
decided  to  rebuild,  all  of  the  expense  except  that  of 
the  new  site  must  apparently  be  borne  by  them  without 
state  aid. 

Of  the  approximately  six  hundred  monuments  in- 
jured or  destroyed  far  the  larger  number  were  churches, 
and  many  of  these  were  injured  beyond  repair.  It  will 
be  seen  at  once  that  every  decision  by  the  commission 
that  a  church  was  not  to  be  repaired  meant  a  positive 
and  permanent  loss  to  the  religious  body  to  which  the 
church  belonged.  It  had  no  claim  to  damages  for 
either  land  or  buildings  unless  it  rebuilt,  and  if  it  re- 
built on  another  site  it  must  itself  bear  the  whole  cost 
except  that  of  the  land.  In  other  words,  monuments 
which  were  not  the  property  of  the  state  ceased  to  exist 
as  monuments  if  they  could  not  be  replaced. 

It  is  not  clear  that  the  law  intended  to  preserve  for 
the  state  any  interest  in  new  structures  which  might 
be  erected  on  new  sites  beyond  that  of  insuring  a  suit- 
able location.  The  supervisory  authority  of  the  state 
apparently  continues,  however,  in  the  case  of  monu- 
ments which,  like  town  halls,  belong  to  communes  or 
departments.    If  they  can  be  restored,  the  restoration 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS     231 

is  supervised  by  the  commission  and  the  expense  is  met 
by  the  state.  If  restoration  is  impossible  and  the  old 
site  is  abandoned,  the  plans  of  new  buildings  will  ap- 
parently require  the  approval  of  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  as  in  the  case  of  other  public 
buildings  in  France.  It  is  perhaps  unlikely  that  many 
old  sites  will  be  abandoned,  except  in  the  few  cases  in 
which  a  small  village  is  transferred  bodily  to  a  new 
location;  but  unless  the  state  comes  to  the  aid  of  the 
commune  or  department,  those  communities  must 
apparently  themselves  bear  the  cost  of  rebuilding  on 
the  new  site. 

It  was  well  that  control  by  the  commission  and  the 
ministry  should  continue.  During  the  war  consider- 
able apprehension  was  expressed  in  some  quarters  lest, 
when  the  time  for  rebuilding  the  devastated  towns 
arrived,  advantage  might  be  taken  of  the  situation  to 
introduce  styles  of  architecture,  both  public  and 
private,  which  if  not  fantastic  would  at  least  be  out  of 
keeping  with  what  had  previously  obtained  in  the 
region.  Some  proposed  structures  of  which  models  or 
drawings  were  exhibited  at  Paris  evoked  a  good  deal 
of  well-founded  criticism.  The  better  way  was  pointed 
out  by  the  French  Regional  Association  in  the  following 
resolutions  adopted  in  June,  1915: 

1.  That  all  reconstruction  in  the  invaded  regions  should 
be  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  the  region  and  regard  for  natural 
harmonies. 

2.  That  the  state,  the  communes,  parish  councils,  presby- 
teries, large  companies,  etc.,  should  set  the  example  and  give 
to  public  buildings  or  to  those  intended  for  general  use, 
where  such  buildings  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  com- 
munity, characteristic  features. 

3.  That  the  barraques  needed  at  once  to  replace  homes 


232  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

that  have  been  destroyed  should  be  of  a  strictly  provisional 
character,  and  that  no  permanent  construction  whatever 
ought  to  be  undertaken  until  general  plans  have  been 
adopted,  and  then  under  public  control. 

The  railway  companies  and  numerous  industrial  or- 
ganizations have  set  an  example  of  tasteful  and  appro- 
priate architecture  in  many  of  the  buildings  which  they 
have  erected,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  the 
special  commission  or  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion and  Fine  Arts  will  adopt  standards  less  exacting. 

The  law  of  war  damages  gave  the  state  the  privilege 
of  discharging  its  obligation  to  a  sinistre  by  itself  re- 
placing buildings  that  had  been  destroyed.  By  agree- 
ment between  the  ministries  of  the  Liberated  Regions 
and  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  this  provision  of 
the  law  was  to  be  applied  in  the  case  of  monuments, 
whether  the  monuments  belonged  to  communes,  to 
departments,  or  to  private  parties,  wherever  the 
sinistres  were  willing  to  relinquish  their  claims  to  in- 
demnity in  view  of  the  restoration  to  be  undertaken 
by  the  state.1  In  some  cases  the  remains  of  monu- 
ments or  other  buildings  of  artistic  or  historical  value 
were  destroyed  or  left  without  sufficient  protection  in 
the  course  of  clearing  away  debris.  To  prevent  further 
action  of  that  kind  the  prefects  were  instructed  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  to  draw  up  plans  for 
clearing,  and  to  insure  cooperation  between  the  archi- 
tects employed  by  the  department  and  the  agents  of 
the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts 
having  charge  of  the  monuments.2    The  intimation 

1  Circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  (M.  Ogier), 
March  23,  1920. 

a  Circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  (M.  Loucheur), 
March  23,  1921. 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS     233 

was  given  that  careless  contractors  would  hereafter  be 
severely  dealt  with. 

The  various  budget  laws  of  1920  carried  credits  for 
the  preservation  or  restoration  of  monuments  in  the 
invaded  departments  to  the  amount  of  14,275,208 
francs.  Similar  credits  in  1921  aggregated  35,070,832 
francs.  The  total  of  credits  for  the  two  years  was 
49,346,040  francs.  Previous  credits  raise  the  total 
expenditure  to  about  60,000,000  francs.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  budgets  of  the  two  years  1920-1921  appro- 
priated no  less  than  45,056,558  francs  for  personnel  and 
the  payment  of  indemnities  to  functionaries  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  living  in 
the  invaded  departments.  It  has  been  from  the  begin- 
ning the  policy  of  the  government  to  indemnify  its 
agents  for  extra  expenses  or  added  cost  of  living  in  the 
liberated  regions,  but  no  such  striking  contrast  between 
the  amounts  voted  for  indemnities  and  personnel  and 
the  amounts  voted  for  reconstruction  is  to  be  found  in 
any  other  ministry. 

The  disparity  between  the  two  sides  of  the  account 
would  perhaps  invite  less  attention  if  the  record  of 
achievement  in  restoration  or  reconstruction  were  more 
substantial.  Unfortunately  the  record  is  neither  sub- 
stantial nor  encouraging.  The  situation  in  the  lib- 
erated regions,  so  far  as  the  condition  of  cathedrals, 
churches,  town  halls,  and  public  buildings  generally 
is  concerned,  is  melancholy  in  the  extreme.  Scarcely 
any  building  which  was  seriously  injured  has  under- 
gone any  considerable  amount  of  restoration  and 
far  the  larger  number  have  apparently  received  no 
attention  whatever  save  that  involved  in  barricading 
entrances  and  supporting  walls  or  roofs  in  danger  of 


234  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

falling.  Hundreds  of  monuments  and  similar  buildings 
are  to-day  in  practically  the  same  state  in  which  the 
war  left  them :  roofs  gaping  with  shell  holes  or  hanging 
in  shattered  sections,  walls  breached,  wrecked  interiors 
piled  with  debris,  and  weeds  and  grass  overgrowing  the 
heaps  of  stone,  brick,  and  plaster  untouched  as  yet  by 
pick  or  shovel.  Here  and  there,  in  some  of  the  larger 
structures,  parts  which  escaped  destruction  have  been 
temporarily  repaired  and  the  use  of  the  building  has 
been  resumed;  at  Verdun,  for  example,  a  portion  of  one 
of  the  aisles  of  the  cathedral  has  been  partitioned  off 
from  the  main  body  of  the  church,  and  there  services 
are  held.  Only  where  the  damage  was  comparatively 
slight,  however,  has  anything  properly  to  be  called 
restoration  been  carried  far  toward  completion. 

An  American  architect,  writing  in  1919  of  certain 
temporary  repairs  already  made  or  in  contemplation 
on  the  Reims  cathedral,  recorded  the  "expectation" 
that  in  two  years  services  would  again  be  held  in  this 
most  famous  building  of  the  war.  Down  to  December, 
1921,  nothing  had  been  done  to  the  Reims  cathedral  to 
indicate  that  either  the  main  body  of  the  church  or  any 
considerable  portion  of  it  would  be  fit  for  use  for 
several  years  to  come.  What  is  true  of  the  Reims 
cathedral  is  true  also,  in  all  essential  respects,  of  all 
the  other  cathedrals  which  were  seriously  injured,  of 
the  town  halls,  and  of  the  churches.  Nor  is  any  large 
amount  of  work  anywhere  in  progress.  One  journeys 
from  city  to  city  and  from  town  to  town* to  find  at  best 
only  handfuls  of  workmen  employed,  and  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases  none.  Modest  piles  of  stone  which  have 
been  cleaned,  remains  of  carvings  or  ornamental  parts 
assembled  from  the  ruins,  a  few  breached  walls  or 


MONUMENTS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS     235 

shattered  buttresses  repaired,  some  temporary  roofing 
of  tarred  paper  or  lumber  placed,  and  a  few  workmen 
cutting  or  placing  stone  or  removing  debris,  comprise 
the  maximum  of  effort  ordinarily  to  be  recorded. 

In  the  case  of  churches  which  were  not  classed  as 
monuments,  the  responsibility  for  the  deplorable  con- 
ditions which  have  thus  far  prevailed  is  apparently 
to  be  divided  between  the  cantonal  commissions  and 
the  religious  bodies,  practically  in  all  cases  the  Catholic 
church,  to  which  the  properties  belong.  The  fact  that 
the  church,  since  the  adoption  of  the  separation  laws, 
has  been  on  the  defensive  in  France,  and  that  the  larger 
number  of  churches  are  the  property  of  the  communes 
rather  than  of  religious  societies,  doubtless  goes  far 
to  explain  the  reluctance  of  the  church  to  press  its 
claims. 

Two  commendable  efforts  to  deal  with  the  problem, 
however,  are  to  be  recorded.  A  Catholic  society  known 
as  the  (Euvre  de  Secours  aux  Sglises  Devastees  has 
erected  on  private  properties  some  hundreds  of  bar- 
raques  which  serve  as  temporary  parish  churches,  and 
has  supplied  the  altar  furnishings  and  other  material 
needed  for  religious  services.  The  amount  expended 
by  the  society,  nearly  all  of  it  contributed  in  France, 
is  about  15,000,000  francs.  The  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem of  permanent  reconstruction  was  begun  by  the 
formation  in  the  several  dioceses,  in  the  fall  of  1921, 
of  cooperative  societies  the  members  of  which  are  the 
communes  holding  title  to  churches  that  have  been 
destroyed.  In  January,  1922,  these  societies  united  in 
the  formation  of  a  joint  stock  company  (societe 
anonyme)  known  as  the  Groupement  des  Cooperatives 
Approuvees  de  Reconstruction  des  Eglises  Devastees, 


236  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

with  headquarters  at  Paris.  The  plans  of  the  company 
contemplate  the  issuance  in  February  of  a  first  loan 
of  200,000,000  francs,  secured  by  the  indemnities  due 
from  the  state,  to  start  the  work  of  rebuilding. 

That  a  good  many  of  the  historical  and  artistic 
monuments  which  were  the  priceless  treasures  of 
France  will  long  preserve  the  memory  of  the  war  seems 
beyond  question.  The  beautiful  fagades  of  more  than 
one  cathedral  or  town  hall  will  not  be  restored,  not 
because  money  will  be  lacking  but  because  restoration 
is  practically  impossible.  There  will  be  ruins  and  to 
spare  for  generations  of  tourists,  sites  in  abundance  for 
memorial  tablets  telling  of  buildings  that  have  dis- 
appeared. It  is  unlikely,  however,  that  they  will  long 
nourish  hatred  or  revenge,  for  already  the  war  is  being 
forgotten  as  agriculture  and  industry  revive  and  com- 
merce is  resumed.  The  moral  and  spiritual  effect  of 
the  loss  of  churches,  which  in  many  communities  were 
the  centers  of  religious  and  social  life,  is  fuller  of  appre- 
hension. To  the  aggressive  political  elements  in  France 
which  view  the  church  as  a  menace,  and  to  the  larger 
number  who  look  upon  religion  with  indifference,  the 
loss  will  doubtless  seem  negligible  if  not  indeed  a  posi- 
tive gain;  but  for  those  to  whom  the  church  and  its 
ministrations  are  still  a  solace  and  a  guide  the  depriva- 
tion occasioned  by  the  war  creates  a  void  which  no 
merely  economic  reconstruction  can  hope  to  fill.  It  is 
indeed  to  be  hoped  that  the  work  of  reconstruction 
which  is  now  upon  the  point  of  being  begun  may  not 
lack  either  energy  or  support. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

INTERNATIONAL  ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

There  is  doubtless  a  popular  impression  that  recon- 
struction in  France,  aside  from  the  question  of  the 
German  reparations  and  indemnities,  is  a  matter  wholly 
of  domestic  concern.  It  is  true  that  the  interpretation 
and  enforcement  of  the  reparation  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  Versailles  is  the  most  important  international 
aspect  of  the  case,  and  that  a  failure  to  obtain  the 
reparations  which  the  Reparations  Commission  have 
approved  might  be  financially  embarrassing  for  France. 
At  a  number  of  other  points,  however,  the  restoration 
of  the  devastated  departments  has  touched  the  field 
of  international  relations  or  involved  international 
agreements.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the 
work  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  in 
obtaining  cattle  and  other  farm  animals  from  abroad. 
The  remaining  questions  of  an  international  character 
have  now  to  be  considered. 

The  law  of  war  damages  extended  to  foreigners  in 
France  as  well  as  to  French  subjects  the  right  to  in- 
demnities for  war  losses,  subject  however  to  treaties 
subsequently  to  be  concluded  between  France  and  the 
various  countries  concerned.  Pending  the  conclusion 
of  such  treaties,  foreign  sinistres  were  at  liberty  to  pre- 
pare and  submit  their  claims  to  damages.  The  first 
and  only  agreement  was  made  with  Belgium.    By  an 

237 


238  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

"arrangement"  entered  into  on  October  9,  1919,  each 
of  the  two  countries  accorded  to  the  citizens  of  the 
other  the  right  to  reparation  under  the  laws  then  in 
force.  A  similar  reciprocal  privilege  was  granted  to 
societies  or  corporations  formed  under  the  laws  of  the 
respective  countries.  Exception  was  made  in  the  case 
of  money  exacted  by  the  Germans,  damages  caused  by 
French  or  Belgian  troops  or  military  requisitions  if 
compensation  for  such  damages  was  already  provided 
for  by  law,  and  claims  involving  bonds  or  other  secur- 
ities. The  total  amount  of  the  damages  to  be  paid 
was  further  made  subject  to  the  approval  by  the 
Reparations  Commission  of  the  aggregate  claims 
against  Germany  which  each  government  should 
present. 

With  the  approval  of  this  agreement  Belgian  subjects 
in  France  became  entitled  to  the  same  advances  for 
agricultural  or  industrial  reconstruction  as  were  ac- 
corded to  agricultural  or  industrial  sinistres  of  French 
nationality.  The  same  obligation  to  reemploy  the 
indemnity,  however,  was  imposed  in  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other. 

In  April,  1920,  the  right  to  indemnity  for  war  dam- 
ages was  extended  to  foreigners  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

The  distribution  of  coal  received  from  Germany  was 
intrusted  in  November,  1919,  to  a  bureau  of  the  then 
Ministry  of  Industrial  Reconstitution.  The  German 
coal  reached  France  by  various  routes.  Shipments  by 
rail  were  delivered  at  the  French  or  Belgian  frontiers, 
the  parties  to  whom  the  coal  was  allotted  paying  the 
freight  and  customs  charges  from  the  frontier  to  the 
point  of  destination.    Direct  shipments  by  river  and 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  239 

canal  were  made  to  Paris  and  the  Nord  department, 
the  receiver  of  the  coal  providing  the  means  of  trans- 
port. Coal  sent  down  the  Rhine  and  transshipped  at 
Antwerp  or  Gant  was  at  the  cost  of  the  consumer  so 
far  as  transport  from  those  points  was  concerned.  Coal 
sent  up  the  Rhine  was  transshipped  at  Ludwigshafen, 
Mannheim,  Strasburg,  or  other  points,  the  government 
paying  the  cost  of  transfer  and  forwarding  the  coal  to 
the  consumer,  subject  to  freight  and  customs  charges 
if  the  shipment  was  by  rail.  If  inland  water  routes 
were  used  the  consumer  had  to  provide  the  boats. 
Shipments  were  also  made  by  sea  via  Rotterdam,  either 
with  or  without  transfer,  the  consumer  finding  the 
necessary  boats  in  either  case.  In  the  case  of  small 
industries  and  domestic  consumers  deliveries  were  made 
through  groups  of  importers  at  different  ports. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  law  of  war  damages  pro- 
vided for  the  payment  of  such  damages  only  as  were 
material  and  direct.  By  the  treaty  of  Versailles,  how- 
ever, the  Allied  and  Associated  powers  claimed  the 
right  to  demand  from  Germany  compensation  in  full 
for  no  less  than  ten  classes  of  damages  of  a  personal, 
indirect,  or  consequential  kind.  As  set  forth  in  Part 
VIII,  Section  I,  Annex  I  of  the  treaty  those  classes 
comprise: 

1.  Damages  caused  to  civilians  and  their  dependent  rela- 
tives who  suffered  in  their  persons  or  in  their  life  by  any 
acts  of  war,  including  in  such  acts  bombardments  or  other 
attacks  by  land,  by  sea,  or  by  air,  together  with  all  their 
direct  consequences  or  consequences  resulting  from  the  war 
operations  of  two  groups  of  belligerents,  wherever  such  acts 
occurred. 

2.  Damages  caused  by  Germany  or  its  allies  to  civilians 


240  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

and  their  dependents  who  were  victims  of  acts  of  cruelty, 
violence,  or  bad  treatment  (including  in  such  acts  the  effects 
upon  life  or  health  of  imprisonment,  deportation,  intern- 
ment, evacuation,  abandonment  on  the  sea,  or  forced  labor) , 
wherever  the  acts  in  question  were  committed. 

3.  Damages  caused  by  Germany  or  its  allies,  either  in 
their  own  territory  or  in  territory  occupied  or  invaded,  to 
civil  victims  of  any  acts  tending  to  affect  the  health,  work- 
ing capacity,  or  honor  of  such  persons  or  their  dependents. 

4.  Damages  caused  by  any  improper  treatment  of  pris- 
oners of  war. 

5.  In  the  case  of  damages  caused  to  the  peoples  of  the 
Allied  and  Associated  powers,  the  total  amount  of  pensions 
or  similar  compensations  due  to  military  victims  of  the  war 
(land,  sea,  or  air  forces) ,  whether  mutilated,  wounded,  sick, 
or  invalid,  as  well  as  to  the  persons  to  whom  such  victims 
were  the  support,  are  to  be  calculated  for  each  government, 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  reparations  to  be  paid 
by  Germany,  on  the  basis  of  the  capitalized  value,  at  the 
date  'when  the  treaty  goes  into  effect,  of  such  pensions  or 
compensations  according  to  the  scale  in  force  in  France  at 
that  date. 

6.  The  cost  of  assistance  furnished  by  the  governments 
of  the  Allied  and  Associated  powers  to  prisoners  of  war,  to 
their  families,  *or  to  those  to  whom  such  persons  were  the 
support. 

7.  Allotments  made  by  the  governments  of  the  Allied  and 
Associated  powers  to  the  families  or  dependents  of  persons 
who  were  mobilized  or  who  served  in  the  army,  the  total 
amounts  due  for  each  year  of  the 'war  being  calculated,  for 
each  government,  on  the  basis  of  the  average  scale  obtain- 
ing in  France  each  year  for  payments  of  this  nature. 

8.  Damages  caused  to  civilians  as  a  result  of  the  obliga- 
tion imposed  upon  them  by  Germany  or  its  allies  to  work 
without  just  remuneration. 

9.  Damages  affecting  any  property,  wherever  situated, 
belonging  to  one  of  the  Allied  and  Associated  powers  or  to 
persons  living  within  their  jurisdiction  (military  or  naval 
works  or  material  excepted)  which  has  been  carried  away, 
seized,  injured,  or  destroyed  by  the  acts  of  Germany  and 
its  allies  on  land  or  sea  or  in  the  air,  together  with  all 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  241 

damages  following  directly  from  hostilities  or  any  opera- 
tions of  war. 

10.    Damages  caused  to  the  civil  population  by  imposi- 
tions, fines,  or  similar  exactions  of  Germany  or  its  allies. 

In  March,  1920,  an  interministerial  committee  of 
reparations  was  created  to  prepare  the  claims  arising 
under  these  several  heads.    The  president  of  the  com- 
mittee was  the  French  representative  on  the  Repara- 
tions Commission.     Within  each  ministry  a  special 
reparations  service  was  organized  to  facilitate  the  work. 
The  aggregate  of  these  claims  eventually  submitted  to 
the  Reparations  Commission  was  77,833,987,076  francs, 
or  more  than  one-third  of  the  total  claims  presented. 
The  items  comprised  60,045,690,000  francs  for  military 
pensions   and   similar    compensations,    12,936,956,824 
francs  for  allocations  to  families  of  persons  mobilized, 
514,465,000    francs    for   civil   pensions,    1,869,230,000 
francs  for  the  improper  treatment  of  civilians  and 
prisoners  of  war,  976,906,000  francs  for  aid  furnished 
to  prisoners  of  war  and  their  families,   223,123,313 
francs  for  labor  without  just  remuneration,  and  1,267,- 
615,939  francs  for  fines  or  exactions  of  various  kinds. 
Considerable  sums,  the  aggregate  amount  of  which 
cannot  as  yet  be  stated,  were  due  to  communes  and 
departments  on  account  of  sales  of  abandoned  property, 
requisitions,  and  evacuations  made  by  or  under  the 
orders  of  the  Allied  forces  in  France.     Such  of  these 
amounts  as  were  paid  through  the  British  Claims  Com- 
mission were  regularly  credited  to  the  communes  or 
departments  concerned.    In  the  spring  of  1918  the 
British  military  authorities  were  authorized  to  sell  to 
soldiers,  through  canteens,  grocery  supplies  which  had 


242  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

been  abandoned  in  evacuated  villages.  The  proceeds 
of  these  sales  were  paid  to  the  communes  through  a 
financial  office  at  Abbeville,  the  distribution  to  indi- 
vidual claimants  being  made  by  the  mayors.  In  addi- 
tion to  sales,  considerable  quantities  of  food  supplies 
and  miscellaneous  articles  were  evacuated  by  military 
order;  the  settlement  of  these  claims  through  British 
or  French  offices  began  at  the  end  of  December,  1918. 
Cattle  evacuated  in  the  spring  of  1918  were  turned 
over  to  food  commissions,  which  purchased  or  requi- 
sitioned them,  the  proceeds  being  credited  to  the  com- 
munes if  the  individual  owners  were  unknown.  In  case 
of  disputes  between  the  French  local  authorities  or 
sinistres  and  the  British  Claims  Commission,  payment 
was  made  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  a  tribunal  or  an  order 
of  the  Council  of  State. 

The  amounts  receivable  from  American  sources 
covered  requisitions,  rental  and  other  expenses  of 
camps,  accidents,  and  miscellaneous  damages.  Pay- 
ments for  the  lodging  of  troops  were  made  through  a 
disbursing  officer  to  the  treasurer  (receveur  municipal) 
of  each  commune,  who  distributed  them  to  individual 
claimants;  other  payments  were  made  individually, 
the  mayor  acting  as  the  intermediary.  Payments  made 
after  December  1,  1919,  were  credited  to  the  prefects 
wherever  the  claims  were  to  be  classed  as  war  damages; 
claims  for  furniture  and  various  kinds  of  equipment, 
however,  continued  to  be  settled  directly  by  the  Amer- 
ican quartermaster. 

Claims  of  all  kinds  to  indemnity  on  account  of  acts 
of  Portuguese  troops  were,  as  a  rule,  paid  by  the  British 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  243 

military  authorities,  subject  to  reimbursement  by 
Portugal.  By  an  agreement  concluded  between  France 
and  Portugal  on  April  27,  1918,  a  Portuguese  claims 
commission  was  created,  but  it  was  presently  dissolved 
and  the  matter  of  claims  intrusted  to  the  Portuguese 
military  attache  at  Paris.  Claims  against  Belgium  and 
Italy  were  left  to  be  adjusted  between  the  prefects  and 
the  diplomatic  representatives  of  those  countries  at 
Paris. 

A  slight  controversy  developed  in  1921  over  the 
claims  of  certain  sinistres  to  damages  caused  by  the 
establishment,  before  the  armistice,  of  camps  at  which 
stocks  of  war  material  were  assembled.  In  a  number 
of  cases,  officials  of  the  departments  refused  to  transmit 
to  the  cantonal  commissions  these  demands  for  indem- 
nity, on  the  ground  that  since  the  control  and  dis- 
position of  the  stocks  had  been  turned  over  to  the 
bureau  of  industrial  reconstruction,  the  demands  in 
question  should  be  submitted  to  that  office.  An  appeal 
to  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  resulted  in 
the  issuance  of  directions,  on  August  19,  to  the  prefects 
to  transmit  the  papers,  the  cantonal  commissions  and 
not  the  departmental  officials  having  the  sole  right  to 
decide  as  to  what  were  or  what  were  not  proper  claims. 
As  the  final  date  for  the  filing  of  claims  had  already 
been  fixed  at  August  1,  the  penalty  was  waived  in  the 
case  of  the  sinistres  whose  papers  had  been  held  back. 

The  law  of  August  6,  1917,  creating  the  office  of 
industrial  reconstitution  and  appropriating  250,000,000 
francs  for  the  purchase  of  materials,  tools,  etc.,  for 
industrial  needs,  contemplated  purchases  in  foreign 
countries  as  well  as  in  France.    In  July,  1920,  prac- 


244  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

tically  all  of  the  wartime  restrictions  upon  importation 
were  removed.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  purchase  of 
material  for  industrial  reconstruction  in  Germany  and 
the  occupied  territory  along  the  Rhine,  a  joint  office 
of  the  Central  Purchasing  Agency  (Comptoir  Central 
d' Achats)  and  the  service  of  industrial  reconstruction 
was  opened  at  Wiesbaden.  This  bureau  undertook  to 
furnish  industrial  sinistres  with  information  regarding 
the  possibilities  of  German  manufacture,  conditions  of 
sale  and  delivery,  and  similar  matters;  to  establish 
relations  with  German  industrial  groups,  chambers  of 
commerce,  syndicates,  etc.,  and  in  general  to  facilitate 
the  operations  of  selection,  purchase,  transport,  and 
payment  of  customs  duties.  Arrangements  were  made 
for  payments  for  purchases  through  a  French  bank  at 
Wiesbaden,  the  necessary  supply  of  German  marks 
being  provided  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance.  The  office 
of  industrial  reconstitution  also  undertook  to  provide 
safe-conducts  for  industrial  sinistres  who  desired  to 
visit  the  occupied  parts  of  Germany,  and  to  facilitate 
the  entrance  into  France  of  German  mechanics  needed 
for  the  installation  of  German  machinery. 

Purchases  in  England  or  the  United  States  for  pur- 
poses of  industrial  reconstruction  were  made  through 
the  Central  Purchasing  Agency  at  Paris  or  the  Regional 
Agency  at  Lille.  Industrial  products  imported  from 
the  free  zones  of  Gex  and  Savoie  were  subject  to  special 
regulation. 

The  multiplication  of  financial  transactions  arising 
under  the  treaty  of  peace  led  in  August,  1920,  to  the 
issuance  of  a  decree  centralizing  the  execution  of  all 
the  financial  provisions  of  the  treaty  in  the  hands  of 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  245 

the  Minister  of  Finance.  Included  in  this  was  the 
preparation,  in  connection  with  the  other  ministries 
concerned,  of  the  claims  against  Germany  to  be  laid 
before  the  Reparations  Commission. 

The  supervision  of  the  large  number  of  foreign 
laborers  and  workmen  in  France,  the  larger  proportion 
of  whom  were  employed  in  the  liberated  regions,  was 
an  international  problem  of  a  different  character.  The 
thousands  of  laborers  who  had  been  brought  in  during 
the  war  from  Italy,  Portugal,  China,  and  other  coun- 
tries had  rendered  invaluable  service,  and  many  of 
them  continued  to  be  employed  after  the  armistice, 
as  indeed  they  had  been  employed  before,  in  the  work 
of  reconstruction.  A  considerable  number  pf  skilled 
workmen  and  foremen,  principally  from  Belgium,  had 
also  been  employed  in  industrial  centers.  The  presence 
of  these  foreign  laborers,  however,  aroused  considerable 
opposition  notwithstanding  the  general  labor  shortage, 
while  the  crowded  and  unsanitary  conditions  in  which 
many  of  them  lived  were  dangerous  to  morals  and  to 
public  health. 

In  November,  1920,  the  existing  regulations  regard- 
ing admission,  identity  cards,  and  supervision  were 
revised,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  replace  foreign 
labor  with  French  labor  wherever  possible.  Instruc- 
tions issued  by  the  office  of  industrial  reconstruction 
called  the  attention  of  employers  to  the  fact  that 
foreign  workmen  were  not  to  be  employed  if  satisfac- 
tory French  workmen  could  be  had,  and  required  appli- 
cations for  foreign  labor  to  be  addressed  to  the  Minister 
of  Labor  at  Paris.  It  was  further  pointed  out  that 
foreign  workmen  were  to  receive  the  same  treatment 


246  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

as  French  workmen,  and  that  the  rates  of  wages  should 
be  the  same  as  were  normally  paid  to  French  workmen 
in  the  same  locality. 

On  September  3,  1919,  a  convention  was  concluded 
between  France  and  Poland  for  the  regulation  of  immi- 
gration and  emigration  between  the  two  countries. 
The  nationals  of  each  country  were  accorded  the  right 
to  seek  work  in  the  other,  and  they  might  be  recruited 
where  considerable  numbers  of  laborers  were  required. 
They  were  guaranteed  the  same  rates  of  wages  as  were 
paid  for  similar  work  to  nationals  of  the  country  in 
which  they  were  employed,  and  equal  protection  under 
labor  laws,  including  compensation  for  accidents.  If 
later  agreements  with  other  countries  granted  more 
advantageous  labor  conditions,  the  same  advantages 
were  to  be  enjoyed  reciprocally  by  French  and  Polish 
subjects.  No  special  authorization  was  required  in  the 
case  of  the  migration  of  individual  laborers,  and  those 
who  had  not  previously  been  engaged  by  employers 
were  to  enjoy  upon  arrival  the  facilities  of  government 
immigration  stations  and  employment  bureaus  while 
seeking  work.  In  case  of  an  oversupply  of  labor  in  a 
particular  industry  or  locality,  notice  of  the  fact  was 
to  be  given. 

The  recruitment  of  laborers  was  subjected  to  various 
restrictions  intended  primarily  to  protect  the  labor 
supply  and  the  economic  development  of  the  two 
countries.  A  joint  commission  sitting  alternately  at 
Paris  and  Warsaw  was  given  general  oversight  of  the 
matter,  the  particular  arrangements  in  France  being 
intrusted  to  the  supervision  of  the  National  Employ- 
ment Bureau  and  in  Poland  to  the  National  Bureau 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  247 

of  Employment  and  the  Protection  of  Emigrants.  In 
addition,  the  right  was  reserved  to  accept  or  reject 
emigrants  collectively  recruited  before  their  departure 
from  the  country,  and  to  enforce  suitable  conditions 
regarding  sanitation  and  transport. 

The  convention  was  to  continue  in  force  for  a  year, 
subject  to  renewal  from  year  to  year  if  three  months' 
notice  of  abrogation  was  not  given.  It  did  not  in 
practice  add  greatly  to  the  labor  supply  of  the  invaded 
departments,  political  and  military  conditions  in 
Poland  preventing  the  recruitment  of  any  large  number 
of  laborers.  In  September  a  labor  convention  of  sub- 
stantially similar  tenor  was  concluded  between  France 
and  Italy.1 

On  July  12,  1920,  the  German  delegates  to  the  con- 
ference at  Spa  submitted  to  the  conference  an  elaborate 
plan  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  devastated  regions 
of  all  countries  affected  by  the  war.  The  plan  contem- 
plated the  formation  of  an  international  syndicate  of 
contractors  which  should  undertake,  in  agreement  with 
the  governments  immediately  interested,  the  clearing 
(debladement)  of  the  devastated  areas,  the  restoration 
of  industrial  and  agricultural  establishments  and  rail- 
ways, and  the  provision  of  new  houses  for  the  popu- 
lation. The  necessary  labor  would  be  drawn  from  the 
allied  countries  and  Germany,  and  the  work  of  recon- 
struction was  to  be  carried  on  under  commercial  and 
not  under  bureaucratic  methods,  without  excessive 
profits,  and  on  a  basis  of  equal  collaboration  of  em- 

*The  journal  Le  Bdtiment  for  November  24,  1921,  in  urging  that 
preparations  be  made  for  the  effective  employment  of  large  numbers 
of  Italian  laborers  who  were  expected,  stated  that  work  to  the 
amount  of  about  1,500,000,000  francs  had  been  reserved  for  Italians. 


248  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

ployers  and  workmen.  One  of  the  aims  of  the  proposal, 
in  addition  to  securing  the  speedy  and  systematic  re- 
building of  devastated  territory  by  international  effort, 
was  to  enable  Germany  to  discharge  a  part  of  its  in- 
demnity obligations  by  furnishing  labor  and  materials.1 

At  the  time  when  this  proposal  was  submitted 
no  agreement  had  yet  been  reached  by  the  Supreme 
Council  regarding  the  reparation  terms  to  be  demanded 
of  Germany.  That  fact,  together  with  the  generally 
hostile  attitude  of  the  conference  toward  Germany  and 
doubt  of  the  sincerity  of  German  intentions,  doomed 
the  plan  to  rejection  without  any  serious  consideration. 
The  suggestion  of  allowing  Germany  to  share  directly 
in  the  reconstruction  of  the  devastated  departments, 
however,  had  been  launched,  and  it  was  not  thereafter 
absent  from  either  official  or  public  discussion  of  the 
reconstruction  problem. 

The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Council  regarding 
reparations — a  decision  destined  to  undergo  modifica- 
tion later  and  to  provoke  heated  controversy  in  French 
political  circles— was  not  reached  until  January  29, 
1921,  the  total  of  reparations  then  demanded  being 
fixed  at  £11,300,000,000,  payable  in  installments  over 
forty-two  years.  At  a  series  of  conferences  of  inter- 
national labor  organizations,  held  at  Amsterdam  in 
March  and  April,  resolutions  were  adopted  criticizing 
the  allied  governments  for  over-emphasizing  the  finan- 
cial side  of  reparations,  and  urging  that  Germany 
should  be  made  to  contribute  to  the  reconstruction  of 
devastated  areas  by  itself  performing  a  substantial  part 
of  the  work  of  restoration. 

1  The  text  of  the  proposal  is  in  the  Paris  Temps,  July  13,  1920. 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  249 

On  April  22,  in  a  note  to  the  British  government, 
Germany  renewed  its  proposal  for  the  reconstruction 
of  the  devastated  territories.  The  bearing  of  this  pro- 
posal upon  the  agreement  later  concluded  at  Wiesbaden 
is  so  important  that  the  text  may  properly  'be  given 
practically  in  full 1 : 

"Germany  is  absolutely  persuaded  that  it  is  unavoidably 
necessary  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  economic  peace 
throughout  the  world  that  the  territories  devastated  through 
the  war  should  be  reconstructed  and  restored.  Until  this 
is  done  there  is  danger  that  feelings  of  hate  will  continue 
to  exist  among  the  nations  concerned. 

"Germany,  therefore,  declares  herself  once  more  entirely 
willing  to  cooperate  in  this  reconstruction  with  all  the  means 
and  strength  at  her  disposal,  and  to  take  into  account  in 
regard  thereto,  in  every  individual  case,  each  wish  of  the 
powers  concerned  as  far  as  possible. 

"With  regard  to  the  method  of  accomplishing  reconstruc- 
tion the  German  government,  while  maintaining  the  pro- 
posals made  by  it  since  1919,  begs  to  summarize  the  fol- 
lowing possibilities: 

"(1)  Germany  could  undertake  the  reconstruction  of  spe- 
cified town  localities  or  villages,  or  of  such  specified  portions 
of  the  territory  to  be  reconstructed  as  might  be  connected 
with  each  other,  taking  over  the  entire  course  either  as  a 
state  undertaking  or  by  directing  the  work  of  international 
colonizing  and  settlement  associations.  In  that  event  the 
experience  gained  by  Germany  during  the  reconstruction  of 
devastated  territory  in  East  Prussia  would  be  of  special 
assistance.  Germany  will  refrain  from  explaining  this  pro- 
posal more  in  detail  at  present,  as  the  fundamental  idea  has, 
up  to  the  present,  met  with  objections  on  the  part  of  the 
Allied  governments. 

"  (2)  Germany  is  further  willing,  apart  from  the  method 
of  settlement  suggested  under  Section  1,  to  place  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Allied  governments  immediately  all  assist- 
ance for  the  reconstruction  of  the  devastated  regions  in 

JThe  text  which  follows  is  that  which  was  given  to  the  press  at 
London  on  April  22.  The  numerous  infelicities  of  translation  have 
not  been  removed. 


250  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

northern  France  and  Belgium.  The  German  industries  have 
resolved  to  offer  the  following  services:  To  undertake  at 
once  in  the  devastated  territories,  on  being  informed  of  the 
detailed  wishes  of  the  Allied  governments,  the  work  of 
clearing  the  ground  and  of  afforestation ;  to  repair  and  re- 
build brickwork,  and  also  to  build  works  for  the  production 
of  chalk,  plaster,  cement,  etc.,  in  territories  to  be  recon- 
structed; to  deliver  on  request  machinery  and  appliances 
connected  with  the  obtaining  and  preparation  of  raw  ma- 
teriaMor  buildings  in  existence  on  the  spot  and,  in  addition 
to  this,  to  deliver  German  building  materials  and  requisites 
from  Germany;  to  make  arrangements  that  all  appliances 
and  machinery  required  for  building  purposes  not  existing 
in  the  reconstruction  territory  should  be  obtained  from  Ger- 
many if  necessary,  including  such  building  materials  as  are 
requisite  for  first  installation;  to  begin  immediately  with  a 
plan  for  building  construction  of  all  kinds  at  least  25,000 
wooden  houses  (dwelling  houses) ,  these  to  be  erected  before 
the  beginning  of  the  cold  season,  with  a  view  to  coping  with 
the  extraordinary  housing  shortage  in  the  devastated  dis- 
tricts. In  addition,  provision  of  fittings — for  example, 
furniture,  stoves,  etc. — and  the  execution  of  deep  and  shal- 
low excavations  of  all  kinds,  according  to  plans  and  under 
control  of  the  French  authorities. 

"Whether  this  construction  is  to  be  carried  out  by  con- 
tract of  the  French  or  German  government,  by  public 
contract  or  private,  or  by  means  of  all  three  methods,  is  to 
be  decided  according  to  the  wishes  of  the  Allied  govern- 
ments. 

"The  German  government  is  prepared,  on  the  basis  of 
this  proposal,  to  enter  into  arrangements  with  German 
building  laborers'  organizations,  also  organizations  of  fore- 
men and  officials,  and  guarantees  that  members  of  these 
organizations  are  ready  by  their  labor  to  cooperate  in  the 
reconstruction  of  the  devastated  districts." 


After  specifying  the  steps  which  Germany  is  pre- 
pared to  take  in  aid  of  the  speedy  restoration  of  the 
houses  and  real  property  that  have  been  destroyed,  the 
note  continues: 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  251 

"The  government  is  ready  to  take  over  the  entire  cost  of 
such  buildings  as  far  as  it  can  be  made  in  paper  marks,  to 
be  reckoned  against  the  reparations  account,  while  payment 
of  expenditure  which  has  to  be  met  in  foreign  currency  is 
reserved  for  further  arrangement.  Should  the  Allied 
governments  desire  the  cooperation  of  the  German  govern- 
ment in  the  work  of  reconstruction  to  be  given  in  any  other 
form  than  that  proposed,  the  German  government  is  pre- 
pared thoroughly  and  conscientiously  to  examine  any  sug- 
gestions made  by  the  Allies  and  any  proposal  which  may 
be  made,  and  to  consider  them  with  a  view  to  cooperation 
in  the  work  of  reconstruction  corresponding  to  the  wishes 
of  the  Allies. 

"The  German  government  requests  the  Allied  govern- 
ments to  initiate  as  quickly  as  possible  the  necessary  -dis- 
cussions concerning  the  details  of  the  arrangements  to  be 
arrived  at." 

On  the  same  day  on  which  the  text  of  the  German 
proposal  was  made  public  in  London,  a  meeting  at  Paris 
of  delegates  from  the  devastated  departments,  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  General  Labor  Confederation 
(Confederation  Generate  du  Travail),  adopted  reso- 
lutions calling  for  German  cooperation  in  reconstruc- 
tion through  the  supply  of  materials  and  labor,  and 
creating  a  committee  of  forty-eight  members,  four  from 
each  department,  to  take  up  the  whole  question  of 
reconstruction  with  the  government.  A  day  or  two 
later  the  German  government,  in  its  counter-proposals 
regarding  reparations,  again  affirmed  its  willingness 
to  undertake  the  reconstruction  of  designated  towns, 
villages,  and  hamlets,  or  to  collaborate  in  reconstruc- 
tion by  furnishing  at  the  cost  of  Germany  labor,  mate- 
rials, and  resources,  "or  in  any  other  manner  acceptable 
to  the  Allies." 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  no  formal  agreement 


252  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE   ' 

on  the  subject  was  concluded  with  Germany  until 
October,  negotiations  looking  to  German  cooperation 
were  early  undertaken.  On  May  28  the  Minister  of 
the  Liberated  Regions,  M.  Loucheur,  presided  at  a 
meeting  of  French  and  German  experts  at  Paris  at 
which  plans  for  the  erection  in  the  invaded  depart- 
ments of  25,000  houses  made  in  Germany,  at  an  esti- 
mated cost  of  350,000,000  francs,  were  discussed.  The 
project  called  for  a  uniform  type  of  house  with  double 
walls  of  concrete  plaster,  the  intervening  space  being 
packed  with  compressed  peat.  The  roofs,  of  slate 
or  tile,  were  to  be  provided  locally;  all  of  the  other 
material  and  the  labor  for  construction  were  to  be 
furnished  by  Germany.  It  was  announced  that  the 
models  and  specifications  submitted  were  entirely  satis- 
factory and  that  the  houses  would  be  attractive,  com- 
fortable, and  durable. 

At  a  conference  at  Wiesbaden,  on  June  13,  between 
M.  Loucheur  and  Dr.  Walter  Rathenau,  the  German 
Minister  of  Reconstruction,  and  at  a  later  conference 
at  the  end  of  August  in  which  French  and  German 
experts  participated,  the  terms  of  an  accord  were  fully 
discussed.  The  final  agreement,  signed  by  the  two 
ministers  at  Wiesbaden  on  October  6,  is  an  elaborate 
and  technical  document  many  of  whose  provisions 
relate  rather  to  the  general  subject  of  reparations  than 
to  the  particular  question  of  reconstruction.1  Briefly 
stated,  the  agreement  provided  for  the  creation  in 
Germany  of  a  private  organization  through  which  the 
delivery  of  materials  to  French   sinistres  is  to  be 

*The  text  of  the  agreement  is  in  L'Europe  Nouvelle   (Paris), 
October  15. 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  253 

effected,  and  for  the  formation  in  France  of  groups  or 
organizations  of  sinistres  through  which  requests  for 
such  materials  are  to  be  made.  The  materials  so 
furnished  are  to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  reconsti- 
tution  of  the  devastated  departments.  The  value  of 
the  materials  delivered  is  not  to  exceed  7,000,000,000 
gold  marks  for  the  period  from  October  1,  1921,  to 
May  1,  1926,  the  materials  being  paid  for  by  France, 
until  1926,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  1,000,000,000 
gold  marks  a  year,  in  the  form  of  a  credit  on  the 
indemnity  payments  due  from  Germany,  and  after 
1926  in  ten  annual  installments.  No  obligation,  how- 
ever, is  imposed  upon  the  French  sinistres  to  purchase 
materials  from  Germany  if  they  prefer  to  obtain  them 
elsewhere. 

The  announcement  of  this  agreement  precipitated  a 
lively  discussion  in  the  French  press  and  in  Parliament. 
It  was  urged  that  payment  in  kind  rather  than  in 
money  was  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
Versailles,  that  French  industry  would  suffer  from  large 
importations  of  German  goods,  and  that  the  admission 
of  German  manufactures  and  German  workmen  would 
result  in  a  temporary  German  colonization  of  a  region 
which  the  German  armies  had  only  lately  ravaged.  On 
the  whole,  however,  the  Wiesbaden  accord  was  well 
received.  Payments  in  kind  were,  after  all,  equivalent 
to  payments  in  money  if  prices  were  fair;  and  since  it 
was  doubtful  if  Germany  would  be  able  to  pay  in 
money  all  that  the  treaty  had  demanded,  it  was  good 
policy  to  accept  partial  payment  in  goods.  Moreover, 
the  end  to  be  kept  in  view  was  the  restoration  of  the 
devastated  regions,  and  if  German  payments  in  kind 


254  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

would  help  to  speed  that  process  it  was  hard  to  see 
why  they  should  not  be  welcomed. 

On  the  other  hand  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  British 
government,  which  appears  to  have  resented  the  inde- 
pendent action  of  France,  brought  the  Wiesbaden 
agreement  into  the  field  of  international  controversy 
from  which,  at  the  time  when  this  chapter  was  written, 
it  had  not  yet  emerged.  The  Reparations  Commission, 
to  whom  the  agreement  was  submitted,  approved  the 
general  principle  of  payment  in  goods  and  services,  but 
referred  to  the  governments  represented  on  the  Com- 
mission the  consideration  of  a  number  of  points  in 
which  the  agreement  appeared  to  involve  a  departure 
from  the  provisions  of  the  Versailles  treaty. 

The  conclusion  of  the  Wiesbaden  agreement  was 
shortly  followed  by  a  proposal,  submitted  jointly  by 
one  of  the  affiliated  organizations  of  the  General  Labor 
Confederation  and  a  corresponding  organization  of 
German  technicians  and  industrials,  for  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  a  group  of  eleven  villages  in  the  cantons  of 
Peronne  and  Chaulnes  in  the  department  of  the 
Somme.  All  of  the  villages  had  been  totally  destroyed. 
It  was  proposed  that  the  rebuilding  of  the  villages, 
which  before  the  war  numbered  3,740  inhabitants  and 
750  houses,  should  conform  to  plans  drawn  up  by  the 
sinistres  with  the  approval  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions;  but  the  labor  and  material,  it  was 
understood,  would  be  provided  by  Germany.  The  esti- 
mate called  for  2,500  workmen,  with  which  force  it  was 
believed  that  the  entire  undertaking  could  be  completed 
in  a  year.  The  cost  would  be  charged  to  the  German 
indemnity  under  the  Wiesbaden  agreement,  the  sinis- 


ASPECTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  255 

tres  of  course  surrendering  their  claims  to  war  damages 
for  so  much  of  their  property  as  was  restored. 

On  November  2  a  delegation  from  the  German  or- 
ganization visited  the  region,  and  subsequently  con- 
ferred at  Paris  with  M.  Loucheur,  with  representatives 
of  the  General  Labor  Confederation,  and  with  a  number 
of  officials.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  approval  with 
which  the  proposed  undertaking  was  received,  the  fear 
was  expressed  that  the  presence  of  a  large  body  of 
German  workmen  might  be  resented  by  the  French 
population.  The  interparliamentary  group  of  sena- 
tors and  deputies  from  the  invaded  departments  urged 
that  proper  precautions  be  taken  at  this  point.  There 
was  general  agreement  that  strict  police  regulations 
ought  to  be  enforced,  and  that  the  Germans  should  not 
be  allowed  to  circulate  outside  of  the  region  in  which 
they  worked.  The  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions 
accordingly  deferred  his  decision  until  the  views  of  the 
sinistres  could  be  learned.  In  December  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  twelve  communes,  by  a  slight  majority,  ex- 
pressed an  opinion  adverse  to  the  employment  of  Ger- 
man labor.  The  impartiality  of  the  inquiry,  which  was 
held  under  the  direction  of  the  prefect,  was  questioned 
in  the  press,  but  in  view  of  the  decision  no  further  ac- 
tion in  the  matter  was  taken  for  the  time  being. 

On  November  30  the  attention  of  the  Minister  of 
the  Liberated  Regions  was  called  to  the  lamentable 
condition  of  a  group  of  communes  in  the  region  of  the 
Chemin  des  Dames,  the  reconstruction  of  which  had 
thus  far  been  wholly  neglected.  In  response  to  this 
appeal  M.  Loucheur  stated  that  if  the  Wiesbaden  pro- 
posal was  not  accepted  by  the  German  government 


256  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

within  fifteen  days,1  he  would  place  the  work  of  re- 
building the  villages  in  the  hands  of  Paris  industrials 
who  would  use  German  material  and  German  wooden 
houses  and  employ  Italian  labor,  and  that  the  work 
of  restoration  would  be  pushed  with  the  least  possible 
delay. 
*It  had  not  yet  been  accepted  by  the  French  government. 


CHAPTER  XV 

COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  AND  TOWN  PLANNING 

What  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapters  has 
had  to  do  with  the  large  divisions  into  which  the  work 
of  reconstruction  naturally  falls.  It  was  inevitable  that 
the  restoration  of  transport,  industry,  mines,  and  agri- 
culture, and  to  a  lesser  degree  of  forests  and  monu- 
ments, should  not  only  have  absorbed  the  larger  part 
of  the  money  and  the  greater  share  of  the  effort  devoted 
to  the  rehabilitation  of  the  invaded  departments,  but 
that  it  should  also  embody  the  nearest  approach  to  a 
consistent  and  completed  program.  The  restoration 
of  normal  social  conditions  in  the  devastated  area,  how- 
ever, involved  numerous  questions  only  incidentally 
connected  with  the  larger  fields  whose  lines  have  thus 
far  been  traced.  Sanitation,  medical  service,  schools, 
and  child  life,  for  example,  were  for  the  people  as  a 
whole  hardly  less  important  than  the  reconstruction 
of  factories  and  farms  or  the  restoration  of  railways 
and  telegraphs.  It  is  the  work  of  reconstruction  in 
these  incidental  and  somewhat  unrelated  fields  that 
has  now  to  be  examined. 

Immediately  following  the  conclusion  of  the  armis- 
tice agreement  of  November  11,  1918,  the  government 
turned  its  attention  to  the  question  of  public  health 
in  the  liberated  departments.  A  circular  of  November 
30,  issued  jointly  by  the  ministers  of  the  Interior  and 

257 


258  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  the  Liberated  Regions,  called  the  attention  of  the 
prefects  to  the  supreme  importance  of  reconstituting 
medical  and  pharmaceutical  service,  hospitals,  and 
local  sanitation.  With  a  view  to  centralizing  in  the 
hands  of  the  prefects  the  numerous  requests  for  med- 
ical service  which  hitherto  had  been  presented  to  the 
military  authorities,  and  to  facilitating  the  return  of 
doctors  and  pharmacists,  the  prefects  were  directed  to 
draw  up  general  plans  showing  the  medical  needs  of 
the  several  departments.  In  the  meantime,  until 
civilian  practitioners  returned,  medical  relief  would 
continue  to  be  given  by  the  army.  Local  hospitals,  if 
capable  of  repair,  were  to  be  put  in  condition ;  if  hos- 
pitals had  been  destroyed,  barraques  or  other  suitable 
buildings  were  to  be  used.  The  local  service  of  sani- 
tary inspection  was  also  to  be  resumed  as  rapidly  as 
possible.  To  insure  proper  compliance  with  these  re- 
quests the  director  of  the  Pasteur  Institute  at  Lille, 
Dr.  Calmette,  was  appointed  a  special  commissioner. 
In  March,  1919,  detailed  monthly  reports  of  the  num- 
ber and  occupations  of  the  returning  population  were 
called  for  as  a  basis  for  determining  allowances  to  be 
made  to  doctors  and  pharmacists  who  had  resumed 
practice. 

Down  to  July  1,  1919,  medical  relief  stations  (postes 
de  secours)  had  been  established  to  the  number  of  44 
in  the  Aisne,  42  in  the  Ardennes,  26  in  the  Marne,  19 
in  the  Meuse,  13  in  Meurthe-et-Moselle,  26  in  the 
Nord,  19  in  the  Oise,  22  in  the  Pas-de-Calais,  20  in  the 
Somme,  and  5  in  the  Vosges.  More  than  800,000 
articles  of  clothing  had  been  furnished  by  the  Ministry 
of  the  Liberated  Regions,  at  a  cost  of  over  16,000,000 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  259 

francs,  while  the  budgets  had  carried  credits  of  27,- 
300,000  francs  for  1918  and  172,085,374  francs  for  the 
first  six  months  of  1919  for  purposes  of  temporary 
relief. 

The  physical  condition  of  the  children  in  some  of 
the  departments  was  alarming.  In  June,  1919,  in  an 
article  in  the  Paris  Figaro,  Dr.  Calmette  reported  that 
at  Lille,  where  the  population  had  suffered  more  than 
anywhere  else  from  want  of  food,  sixty-five  per  cent, 
of  the  children  in  most  of  the  schoqls.  were  tuberculous. 
To  deal  with  this  situation  a  great  sanitary  camp  was 
established  at  Camiers,  between  Etaples  and  Boulogne, 
close  to  the  Channel,  where  an  English  military  hos- 
pital had  been  maintained  during  the  war.  The  camp, 
purchased  from  the  British  military  authorities,  com- 
prised some  three  hundred  well-built  barraques  with 
disinfection  apparatus,  many  separate  sleeping  rooms, 
baths,  play  rooms,  a  moving-picture  hall,  and  electric 
light.  The  capacity  of  the  camp  was  about  six  thou- 
sand, and  beginning  with  July  14  special  trains  carried 
five  hundred  tuberculous  children  twice  a  week  from 
the  regions  of  Lille,  Roubaix,  and  Tourcoing  to 
Camiers.  The  personnel,  recruited  principally  from 
teachers  in  the  Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais,  included 
instructors  in  singing  and  the  playing  of  games,  many 
of  the  latter  being  Americans.  In  1920,  when  the  camp 
was  reopened,  provision  was  made  for  6,000  girls  and 
6,000  boys  for  periods  of  two  months  each.  In  1921 
5,400  girls  and  6,000  boys  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the 
camp. 

In  September,  1920,  a  committee  in  Alsace  arranged 
a  three  weeks'  outing  for  six  hundred  children  from 


260  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  Nord,  the  Pas-de-Calais,  the  Somme,«the  Aisne, 
and  the  Marne.  The  children  were  received  at  the 
St.  Louis  railway  station  by  a  representative  of  the 
French  government,  the  mayors  of  the  communes  of 
the  canton,  and  a  band,  and  were  distributed  among 
families  which  had  competed  for  the  honor  of  enter- 
taining them.  For  many  of  the  poorer  children  cloth- 
ing was  provided  by  their  Alsacian  hosts. 

The  important  part  which  women  had  taken  from 
the  beginning  of  the  war  in  works  of  relief,  and  the 
continuance  of  such  work  in  many  cases  after  the 
armistice,  led  in  November,  1919,  to  the  appointment 
by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  of  women 
inspectors  for  the  invaded  departments.  In  addition 
to  helping  in  a  general  way  the  betterment  of  physical 
and  moral  conditions  affecting  women,  the  inspectors 
were  charged  with -the  organization  and  supervision  of 
the  visiting  nurses  ,who  had  been  appointed,  at  the 
instance  of  Dr.  Calmette,  to  safeguard  the  health  of 
children,  and  who  had  opened  a  number  of  dispensaries 
and  medical  relief  stations.  Training  courses  for 
nurses,  already  organized  at  Paris,  included  maternity 
nursing,  the  care  and  feeding  of  children,  children's 
diseases,  school  hygiene,  and  physical  education. 

The  work  of  these  visiting  nurses,  often  done  under 
trying  conditions  and  with  inadequate  equipment, 
merits  far  more  praise  than  it  has  received.  At  Follem- 
bray,  in  the  Aisne,  for  example,  an  outbreak  of  typhoid 
of  which  three  cases  had  already  developed  was  stopped 
by  the  prompt  action  of  a  nurse.  Seven  dispensaries 
had  been  opened  in  the  Aisne  by  the  summer  of  1920, 
and  the  medical  inspection  of  school  children  was  under 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  261 

way  at  Laon,  St.  Quentin,  and  La  Capelle.  At  Pont- 
faverger,  in  the  Marne,  the  nurses  held  a  daily  medical 
and  surgical  clinic,  took  charge  of  the  children  out  of 
school  hours,  and  prepared  a  children's  Christmas  tree. 
At  the  industrial  centers  of  Briey  and  Longwy,  in 
Meurthe-et-Moselle,  they  carried  on  a  service  of  med- 
ical inspection  of  schools  which  had  been  established 
by  the  prefect.  The  first  medical  relief  post  in  the 
Ardennes  was  opened  at  Revin;  on  the  first  day 
twenty-six  mothers  brought  their  babies  for  the  nurses7 
inspection.  At  Rocroi,  where  the  resident  doctor  and 
his  father  died  of  diphtheria  which  the  doctor  had  con- 
tracted from  a  patient,  the  nurses  cared  successfully  for 
the  other  members  of  the  family  and  buried  the  dead. 
The  dispensaries  opened  at  Lille,  Roubaix,  Tourcoing, 
Cambrai,  Le  Cateau,  and  Caudry,  all  important  indus- 
trial centers,  rendered  inestimable  service  to  the  sick 
and  the  victims  of  accidents.  An  important  station 
was  opened  at  St.  Mihiel,  an  open-air  school  was  estab- 
lished at  Clermont-en-Argonne,  and  school  inspection 
was  instituted  at  Montmedy  and  Verdun. 

In  addition  to  medical  service  of  various  kinds,  the 
nurses  were  often  placed  in  charge  of  local  cantines 
opened  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  for 
the  general  use  of  the  community,  and  of  food  stations 
installed  in  public  schools  for  the  benefit  of  children 
who  were  underfed.  One  of  the  most  attractive  of  the 
cantines  was  established  at  Lille  in  February,  1920, 
in  a  location  convenient  for  the  employees  of  business 
houses.  Restaurants  for  men  and  women  served  meals 
at  a  cost  of  2.25  francs;  two  daintily  furnished  rest 
rooms  offered  writing  facilities  and  illustrated  journals; 


262  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

and  fetes  organized  by  the  nurses  brought  hundreds  of 
children  from  the  schools. 

Medical  inspection  of  schools  and  school  children  in 
the  devastated  departments  was  all  the  more  necessary 
because  of  the  physical  condition  of  school  buildings. 
While  the  schools  themselves  have  been  everywhere 
reestablished,  no  public  school  buildings  that  were 
destroyed  have  yet  been  rebuilt  and  only  a  few  of  those 
that  were  injured  have  been  completely  restored. 
Here  and  there  private  philanthropy  or  corporation 
enterprise  has  presented  to  a  community  a  new  and 
attractive  school  building,  but  with  rare  exceptions 
the  schools  throughout  the  invaded  regions  are  still 
housed  in  wooden  barraques  or  temporary  structures 
or  in  old  buildings  but  partially  repaired.  Most  of 
the  school  buildings  are  unsightly,  poorly  furnished, 
and  with  only  primitive  sanitary  conveniences.  The 
same  thing  is  true  in  general  of  the  public  buildings 
of  communes  and  departments  and  the  offices  of  the 
postal,  telegraph,  and  telephone  services.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1921,  the  organization  of  the  mayors  of  the  devas- 
tated regions,  whose  plan  for  a  joint  loan  for  recon- 
struction has  already  been  mentioned,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  proceeds  of  the  loan  should  be  used 
in  the  first  instance  for  the  restoration  of  schools  and 
hospitals.  The  loan  itself,  however,  has  not  yet  been 
issued.1 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  wells  that  were  destroyed  during  the  war,  and 

1A  circular  to  the  prefects,  issued  on  January  3,  1922,  by  the 
ministers  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts  and  of  the  Liberated 
Regions,  modified  somewhat  the  administrative  formalities  with  a 
view  to  facilitating  the  restoration  of  school  buildings. 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  263 

to  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  inhabitants  of  the 
invaded  departments  from  the  menace  of  polluted 
drinking  water.  One  of  the  interesting  experiments  of 
the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  traveling  laboratories  for  the  analysis  of 
water.  The  plan,  adapted  from  the  practice  of  the 
British  army,  comprised  the  establishment  in  each 
department  of  a  laboratory  which  could  be  moved  from 
place  to  place,  samples  of  water  for  analysis  being  col- 
lected by  automobile  from  near-by  localities  and  the 
results  of  the  analysis  sent  to  the  technical  services  of 
the  departments  for  their  guidance  in  cleaning  or  re- 
constituting the  water  supply.  Thanks  in  large  part 
to  the  care  which  was  taken,  by  this  and  other  means, 
to  insure  the  purity  of  water  for  drinking  and  culinary 
purposes,  a  war  which  was  attended  by  unprecedented 
pollution  of  the  soil  was  not  followed  by  any  important 
outbreak  of  disease. 

Numerous  accidents,  some  of  them  fatal,  due  to  the 
explosion  of  munitions  left  in  the  ground  or  assembled 
at  dumps  led  to  urgent  appeals  to  the  inhabitants  to 
use  reasonable  care  and  intelligence,  and  to  report 
promptly  to  the  mayor  any  munitions  found.  The 
Bulletin  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  in  one  of  its  earliest 
issues,  laid  down  the  following  rules,  among  others, 
some  of  them  quite  as  applicable  to  tourists  and  casual 
visitors  to-day  as  they  were  to  the  population  to  which 
they  were  addressed: 

"Never  touch  munitions. 

"In  particular,  do  not  smoke  or  throw  away  matches 
near  a  munitions  dump. 
"Give  up  looking  for  souvenirs.    When  you  take  a  cart- 


264  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

ridge  shell  you  scatter  the  powder  on  the  ground.  The 
train  of  powder  which  you  make  in  that  way  will  be  set 
on  fire  by  a  passing  auto  and  will  explode  the  dump. 

"Do  not  touch  grenades.  They  are  often  ready  to  go 
off  at  the  slightest  shock,  and  they  will  explode  in  your 
hands.    Don't  fish  for  grenades. 

"Do  not  look  for  fuses  to  make  fireworks.  Some  of  them 
go  off  of  themselves.  You  will  always  end  by  dropping 
some  of  them  on  a  pile  of  munitions  and  exploding  it. 

"If  you  find  any  kind  of  a  device  in  the  field,  do  not 
touch  it.  Plant  a  stick  beside  it  so  that  you  can  find  it 
again,  and  give  notice. 

"If  you  are  afraid  of  munitions  too  close  to  your  house, 
or  if  an  explosion  has  broken  your  windows,  inform  the 
mayor  of  your  commune.  He  will  know  the  address  of  the 
proper  military  authority,  who  will  at  once  send  an  officer 
to  reassure  you  and,  if  necessary,  workmen  to  repair 
damages.1 

"If  the  workmen  are  at  work  in  your  commune,  don't  go 
to  watch  them  work.  There  is  always  too  much  of  a  crowd 
about  those  who  are  handling  munitions. 

"Do  not  have  an  exaggerated  fear  of  gas  shells.  They 
are  inoffensive  in  small  quantities,  they  do  not  all  explode 
at  once,  and  they  contain  too  little  gas  to  hurt  you  at  a 
distance.  Do  not  handle  them,  however,  because  some  of 
them  secrete  a  corrosive  fluid  which  may  burn  you. 

"Be  your  own  police.  If  no  one  ever  touches  munitions, 
you  may  be  sure  that  they  will  not  go  off  of  themselves." 

A  law  of  May  1,  1921,  extended  to  third  parties  (i.  e., 
persons  not  employers  or  workmen)  the  right  to  repa- 
ration for  injuries  to  person  or  property  caused  by 
explosion,  fire,  the  emanation  of  noxious  or  poisonous 
gases,  etc.,  in  munitions  depots  or  arsenals,  or  while 
munitions  were  in  transit,  or  in  the  case  of  munitions 
which  had  been  abandoned  and  left  without  care.  The 
benefits  of  the  law  were  made  retroactive,  but  the  state 
reserved  the  right,  whether  the  injuries  in  question 

1  Condensed  from  the  original. 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  265 

were  suffered  before  or  after  the  adoption  of  the  law, 
to  prosecute  the  persons  responsible  for  the  accidents. 

In  spite  of  all  the  progress  made  in  the  restoration 
of  the  invaded  departments,  many  persons  continued 
to  be  in  need  of  government  relief.  As  late  as  August, 
1921,  the  ministers  of  the  Liberated  Regions  and  of  the 
Interior  found  it  necessary  to  instruct  the  prefects  as 
to  their  powers  and  duties  in  the  matter,  and  to  remind 
them  that  the  government  had  not  ceased  to  interest 
itself  in  the  needs  of  refugees.  The  prefects  were 
directed  to  give  notice  that  indoor  relief,  including 
medical  attendance,  was  available  under  existing  laws 
for  needy  persons;  and  while  the  requirements  of  law 
were  to  be  complied  with,  a  generous  interpretation 
was  to  be  given  in  all  cases  and  prompt  action  was 
expected.  Among  the  special  cases  to  which  relief  was 
to  be  extended  were  those  of  agricultural  sinistres  whose 
land  was  not  yet  in  a  position  to  be  worked,  and  of 
sinistres  who  because  of  age  or  infirmity  were  unable 
to  resume  their  former  occupation  or  rebuild  their 
properties.  On  the  other  hand,  since  the  system  of 
allocations  to  refugees  as  such  must  in  the  nature  of 
the  case  cease  before  long,  the  prefects  were  urged  to 
hasten  as  much  as  possible  the  return  of  refugees  to 
their  homes. 

The  budget  commission  of  1921,  in  the  report  to 
which  extended  reference  has  been  made  in  a  previous 
chapter,  raised  the  question  as  to  whether  certain  new 
sanitary  regulations  which  by  law  had  been  made 
applicable  to  buildings  erected  in  the  devastated 
departments  were  not  in  many  respects  excessively 
burdensome  to  the  sinistres,  and  the  more  because  the 


266  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

requirements  had  not  in  fact  been  insisted  upon  in 
other  parts  of  France.  In  October,  1921,  in  a  circular 
to  the  prefects,  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions 
pointed  out  that  the  regulations  in  question  were  to  be 
interpreted  with  generosity  and  common  sense,  that 
they  were  not  to  be  treated  as  if  they  were  "an  intan- 
gible formula  or  an  immutable  rite,"  and  that  the  spirit 
rather  than  the  letter  of  the  law  was  to  be  regarded. 
An  intelligent  application  of  the  sanitary  building 
regulations  which  obtained  in  every  commune  before 
the  war,  and  which  were  not  a  dead  letter  now,  would 
constitute  a  sufficient  conformity  to  the  law.  Since, 
however,  the  building  permits  which  by  law  were  re- 
quired to  be  issued  by  the  mayors  could  not  in  practice 
be  issued  without  great  delay  because  of  the  sanitary 
requirements,  the  prefects  were  directed  to  place  at  the 
disposal  of  the  mayors  a  number  of  competent  assist- 
ants sufficient  to  hasten  the  process,  "in  order  that  it 
might  not  be  said  that  the  regions  which  have  suffered 
from  the  war  have  not  been  treated,  in  the  matter  of 
sanitary  regulations,  like  the  rest  of  France." 

In  August,  1920,  the  eight-hour  law  of  April  23, 1919, 
was  extended  to  the  building  industry  and  other  public 
works  in  the  devastated  departments.  The  effect  of 
the  law  upon  the  reconstitution  of  the  mining  industry 
has  already  been  referred  to.  While  the  law  met  the 
wishes  of  organized  labor  and  placed  the  work  of 
reconstruction,  so  far  as  hours  of  labor  were  concerned, 
upon  the  same  basis  as  that  of  industrial  occupations 
in  other  parts  of  France,  many  persons  to  whom  the 
delays  of  reconstruction  have  particularly  appealed 
have  not  ceased  to  criticize  the  extension  of  the  law 
to  the  invaded  departments  as  unwise.    The  operation 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  267 

of  the  law  has  undoubtedly  decreased  the  average  daily 
production  of  labor,  but  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
checked  the  progress  of  reconstruction  as  a  whole.  In 
general,  the  arguments  for  or  against  an  eight-hour  day 
do  not  appear  to  have  any  essentially  different  force 
in  such  a  situation  as  prevails  in  the  invaded  depart- 
ments than  they  have  elsewhere.  The  cardinal  weak- 
ness of  the  labor  situation  is  the  lack  of  labor,  not  the 
shortness  of  the  working  day. 

A  somewhat  peculiar  problem  of  war  damages  was 
presented  in  the  case  of  priests  who,  having  in  their 
charge  the  furnishings  or  other  personal  property  of 
churches,  claimed  indemnity  for  such  of  the  property 
as  had  been  destroyed,  injured,  or  carried  off.  Under 
the  separation  laws  all  church  property  was  inven- 
toried, and  such  of  it  as  was  not  turned  over  to  local 
parish  societies,  which  were  required  to  be  formed  if 
the  legal  right  to  the  parish  property  was  to  be  retained, 
became  the  property  of  the  commune  or  department. 
Notice  was  accordingly  given  by  the  Ministry  of  the 
Liberated  Regions  that  where  the  personal  property 
for  which  claims  to  indemnity  were  presented  by 
priests  was  in  fact  the  property  of  a  religious  society, 
it  was  the  society  and  not  the  priest  that  must  make 
the  claim;  while  if  the  property  in  question  did  not 
appear  in  the  inventory  made  under  the  separation  law 
of  1905,  it  would  be  presumed  to  belong  to  the  com- 
mune or  department.  In  the  latter  case  it  would  be 
subject  to  indemnity  like  other  communal  or  depart- 
mental property. 

Many  troublesome  questions  were  presented  by  the 
necessity  of  relocating  in  many  instances  the  bound- 
aries of  private  properties  and  public  roads  or  streets, 


268  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

and  by  the  desire  of  a  good  many  communities  to  take 
advantage  of  this  necessity  to  widen  or  straighten 
streets  and  improve  or  increase  open  spaces.  Various 
laws  and  decrees  authorized  the  condemnation  of 
private  property  for  the  purpose  of  making  new  align- 
ments, the  owners  of  course  receiving  compensation  as 
a  part  of  their  war  damages.  Since,  however,  the  re- 
construction of  buildings  could  not  proceed  until 
boundary  lines  had  been  determined,  any  delay  in 
settling  questions  of  alignment  was  likely  to  hold  up 
indefinitely  rebuilding  plans  otherwise  complete.  In 
a  very  large  number  of  cases,  particularly  in  large  towns 
where  improvements  were  contemplated  and  in  small 
villages  that  had  been  completely  destroyed,  this  result 
actually  happened.  Part  of  the  responsibility  un- 
doubtedly attaches  to  the  technical  services  of  the  com- 
munes and  departments,  which  appear  to  have  been 
often  inexcusably  slow  in  running  lines  even  where  no 
changes  of  alignment  were  proposed.  The  larger 
measure  of  responsibility,  however,  falls  upon  the  state, 
which  has  not  yet  given  to  the  communes  the  financial 
aid  necessary  to  enable  them  to  put  into  effect  the 
comprehensive  plans  of  reconstruction  which,  under  a 
new  town  planning  law,  they  are  required  to  draw  up.1 
The  subject  of  town  planning,  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  term  is  familiar  in  England  and  the  United  States, 
had  never  before  the  war  aroused  much  interest  in 
France.  Aside  from  the  natural  conservatism  of  an 
old  country  thickly  dotted  with  picturesque  Communi- 
st has  been  suggested  that  the  difficulty  might  be  overcome  by 
expropriation  by  the  state,  under  the  law  of  war  damages,  of  the 
property  in  question,  followed  by  cession  by  the  state  to  the  com- 
munes. Under  this  plan  the  determination  of  damages  would  fol- 
low the  regular  procedure  without  delaying  the  adoption  of  plans  of 
alignment  (Journal  des  Regions  Liberies,  August  14,  1921). 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  269 

ties  and  rich  in  history  and  tradition,  there  is  in  France 
a  pronounced  aversion  to  the  geometrical  regularity 
and  architectural  sameness  which  characterize  many 
American  cities,  and  which  reach  the  lowest  depths  of 
dreariness  in  many  American  and  English  factory 
towns.  Moreover,  most  of  the  larger  towns  of  France, 
as  in  all  old  countries,  have  grown  by  comparatively 
slow  accretions  while  many  small  towns  have  hardly 
grown  at  all,  so  that  with  the  exception  of  Paris,  where 
the  methodical  laying  out  of  various  quarters  has  from 
time  to  time  occurred,  the  question  of  replanning  a 
town  as  a  whole  has  not  been  a  practical  issue. 

Early  in  the  war,  however,  considerable  interest  was 
aroused  by  the  suggestion  that  the  general  principles  of 
town  planning  might  well  be  applied  in  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  devastated  towns  of  the  invaded  depart- 
ments. A  number  of  architects  and  others  expressed 
the  opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  possible,  without  doing 
violence  to  the  essential  character  of  domestic  or  public 
architecture  or  the  time-honored  spirit  of  French  com- 
munity life,  to  give  to  the  new  towns  and  villages 
improved  general  plans,  wider  and  straighter  streets, 
more  open  spaces,  more  commodious  and  artistic  public 
buildings,  and  better  drainage  and  water  supply.  Sev- 
eral organizations,  among  them  an  energetic  society 
known  as  La  Renaissance  des  Cites,  gave  their  support 
to  the  proposal,  and  a  considerable  literature  of  books, 
magazine  articles,  and  reports  discussed  the  question 
in  its  various  aspects.1 

Largely  as  a  result  of  this  agitation  and  discussion 

1  Reference  may  be  made  particularly  to  A.  R.  Agache,  Comment 
reconstruire  nos  cites  detruites  (1915) ;  A.  Godin,  La  reparation  des 
maisons  endommagees  par  la  guerre  (1916) ;  J.  M.  Auburtin  and 
H.  Blanchard,  La  cite  de  demain  dans  les  regions  devastees  (1917) ; 


270  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  Parliament,  on  March  14,  1919,  while  the  law  of 
war  damages  was  still  under  consideration,  adopted  a 
town  planning  law.1  By  the  terms  of  the  law  every 
city  of  10,000  inhabitants  or  over  was  required  to  draw 
up  within  three  years,  at  the  expense  of  the  state,  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  the  rearrangement  of  its 
streets,  squares,  public  gardens,  playgrounds,  and  other 
open  spaces,  together  with  a  program  of  restrictions 
to  be  imposed  in  such  matters  as  public  health,  the 
height  of  buildings,  drainage,  garbage  disposal,  etc. 
Similar  requirements  were  made  of  towns  of  from  5,000 
to  10,000  inhabitants  attaining  a  certain  percentage  of 
population  growth  from  one  census  to  another,  of 
certain  health  or  pleasure  resorts  having  large  tem- 
porary populations  at  certain  seasons,  and  of  working- 
men's  quarters  (cites)  erected  by  corporations  or  indi- 
viduals. The  preparation  of  plans  was  specifically 
required  in  the  case  of  towns  or  villages  of  any  size 
that  had  been  destroyed.  To  supervise  the  execution 
of  the  law  a  special  commission  was  created  within 
the  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  together  with  local 
commissions  in  each  department.  The  departmental 
commissions  were  to  give  hearings  to  representatives 
of  architectural,  historical,  commercial,  or  other  soci- 
eties interested,  to  representatives  of  transportation 
companies,  and  to  the  mayors  of  communes.  Once  the 
plan  was  adopted,  all  building  operations  were  re- 
quired to  conform  to  it,  permission  to  build  being 
given  by  the  mayor. 

Leon  Rosenthal,  Villes  et  villages  frangais  apres  la  guerre  (1918) ; 
A.  Duchene,  Pour  la  reconstruction  des  cites    industrielles   (1919). 
There  is  an  American  committee  of  La  Renaissance  des  Cites,  with 
headquarters  at  Boston. 
1See  Appendix  A. 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  271 

The  law  of  1919  was  not,  indeed,  the  first  attempt  of 
the  government  to  deal  with  town  planning.  An 
earlier  law  of  1884  had  required  municipalities,  at 
their  own  expense,  to  draw  up  comprehensive  plans 
of  street  lines  and  levels;  it  did  not,  however,  contem- 
plate the  possible  extension  of  the  communal  limits 
and  in  fact  had  remained  a  dead  letter.  In  1916  the 
special  service  which  had  been  organized  within  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior  to  aid  in  the  reconstruction  of 
dwellings  had  reminded  the  prefects  that  the  recon- 
struction of  buildings  ought  not  to  be  looked  at  solely 
from  the  point  of  view  of  each  structure  as  an  isolated 
unit,  but  that  the  effect  of  the  buildings  taken  as  a 
whole  was  also  to  be  considered.  The  law  of  1919, 
however,  made  binding  upon  the  devastated  com- 
munes, as  well  as  upon  all  other  communes  in  France, 
what  hitherto  had  only  been  recommended,  and  at  the 
same  time  relieved  the  communes  of  the  initial  ex- 
pense by  making  the  cost  of  the  plans  a  state  charge. 

The  enforcement  of  the  law,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
not  easy.  A  circular  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  issued  on  June  23,  1921,  called  the  attention 
of  the  prefects  to  the  "inadmissible  slowness"  with 
which  the  preparation  of  plans  for  the  reconstruction 
of  devastated  towns  was  proceeding,  and  to  the  neces- 
sity of  radical  changes  of  method  if  the  work  was  to  be 
completed  by  March  14,  1922,  the  limit  of  time  set  by 
the  law.  One  reason  for  the  delay,  apparently,  was 
fear  of  the  possible  expense  involved.  The  com- 
munes, as  has  been  said,  had  been  given  the  right  to 
condemn  private  property  for  public  purposes,  and  the 
owner  was  of  course  entitled  to  compensation  for  such 
portion  of  his  property,  whether  land  or  buildings,  as 


272  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

was  taken.  How  much  of  the  property  so  acquired, 
however,  would  be  paid  for  by  the  state,  especially  if 
changes  of  a  large  sort  were  made,  and  how  much 
would  have  to  be  paid  for  by  the  municipality  was  not 
clear.  The  circular  of  June  23,  while  urging  haste, 
gave  notice  that  changes  in  street  lines  were  to  be 
reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  that  the  expense  of  any 
modifications  not  strictly  necessary  would  have  to  be 
borne  by  the  municipalities  and  would  not  be  met  by 
state  subventions.  A  law  of  July  29,  intended  to 
facilitate  the  acquisition  of  buildings  by  the  com- 
munes, held  out  the  prospect  of  some  financial  relief, 
but  it  came  late. 

Thanks  to  the  initiative  of  societies  and  corpora- 
tions, however,  some  notable  progress  was  made.  The 
Renaissance  des  Cites  aided  more  than  two  hundred 
towns  to  prepare  their  plans,  at  the  same  time  carry- 
ing on  an  extensive  educational  campaign.  Plans 
were  made  for  rebuilding  as  a  model  the  village  of 
Pinon,  in  the  Aisne,  which  had  been  completely  de- 
stroyed. The  most  important  single  achievement  was 
the  adoption  by  the  city  of  Reims  of  a  comprehensive 
plan  prepared  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  George  B. 
Ford  of  New  York,  to  whom  the  town  planning  move- 
ment in  France  is  deeply  indebted.1  Plans  of  similar 
comprehensiveness  have  been  accepted  for  Lille  and 
La  Bassee,  and  a  plan  for  Soissons  has  been  approved 
by  the  municipal  council.  The  municipal  council  of 
Longwy,  following  the  suggestion  of  the  commission  on 
town  planning,  has  decided  to  rebuild  the  upper  town 

1  Mr.  Ford  has  recounted  some  of  his  experiences  in  an  entertaining 
article  in  the  Survey  (New  York)  for  May  7,  1921. 


COMMUNITY  INTERESTS  273 

on  the  original  lines,  thus  preserving  the  historical 
ramparts  constructed  by  Vauban. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  fruits  of  town  plan- 
ning, however,  are  to  be  found  in  the  workingmen'a 
quarters  built  by  industrial  corporations  and  railway 
companies.  While  certain  of  these  quarters  (cites) 
reproduce  the  long  rows  of  houses  of  a  uniform  type 
familiar  in  American  and  English  industrial  towns, 
others,  as  in  the  coal-mining  concession  of  Anzin,  are 
charming  examples  of  architecture  and  arrangement. 
The  new  employees'  quarter  of  the  Nord  railway  com- 
pany at  Lille  has  already  been  mentioned.  The  cite  of 
the  same  company  at  Roye,  entered  through  a  broad 
avenue  bordered  with  lawns  and  flowers,  is  laid  out  in 
a  series  of  semicircular  streets  at  the  center  of  which 
is  a  large  open  space  with  a  school,  an  assembly  hall, 
and  a  covered  market.  Some  twenty-five  cites  of  the 
same  modern  character  and  with  varied  types  of  do- 
mestic architecture  have  already  been  built  by  the 
Nord  company. 

While  it  seems  improbable  that  any  large  changes 
will  be  made  in  most  of  the  more  than  three  thousand 
communes  upon  which  the  calamity  of  war  fell,  the 
results  of  the  agitation  for  new  and  better  towns  will 
nevertheless  be  considerable.  The  reconstructed  towns 
of  devastated  France  will  certainly  show  better  streets, 
better  schools  and  public  buildings,  more  generous 
provision  of  markets  and  open  spaces,  and  better  facili- 
ties for  public  meetings,  social  gatherings,  and  recrea- 
tion than  the  former  towns  possessed.  There  will  be 
better  water  supply,  more  general  use  of  electric  light, 
and  better  drainage.     Once  the  marks  of  war  have 


274  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

disappeared  and  economic  life  has  resumed  its  normal 
course,  it  is  a  safe  prediction  that  few  of  the  communi- 
ties which  are  being  restored  will  be  less  attractive  to 
the  eye,  as  most  of  them  will  be  more  healthful  and 
convenient,  than  those  which  the  war  destroyed.  The 
architectural  and  historical  monuments  which  were  the 
pride  of  the  north  cannot  be  replaced,  and  many 
touches  of  quaintness  and  beauty  have  gone  forever, 
but  in  every  other  respect  the  reconstructed  towns  and 
villages  will  be  better  places  to  live  in  than  were  those 
which  the  war  overwhelmed. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  OF  PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  devastation  of 
the  invaded  departments  and  the  sufferings  of  their 
inhabitants  evoked  widespread  sympathy  both  in 
France  and  abroad,  and  led  to  more  or  less  systematic 
attempts  to  supplement  by  private  contributions  and 
personal  service  the  aid  extended  by  the  government. 
In  spite  of  the  supreme  demands  which  the  war  made 
upon  the  people  of  France,  numerous  organizations 
were  formed  at  Paris  and  elsewhere  for  the  relief  of 
refugees,  the  care  of  children,  and  the  supply  of  food, 
clothing,  and  medical  attendance  to  the  needy  popu- 
lation still  remaining  in  the  war  zone.  To  the  efforts 
of  the  French  societies  were  presently  added  those  of 
organizations  in  other  countries,  principally  in  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States,  the  larger  volume  of  con- 
tributions coming  naturally  from  the  American  and 
British  Red  Cross.  Many  individuals,  also,  gave  lib- 
erally of  their  time  and  their  money  for  the  relief  of 
distress  in  particular  communities.  From  the  nature 
of  the  case,  however,  very  little  of  this  philanthropic 
effort  had  to  do  with  actual  reconstruction,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war  most  of  the  French  and  foreign  soci- 
eties either  went  out  of  existence  or  merged  their  work 
with  that  of  societies  which  undertook  to  supplement 
directly  the  reconstruction  efforts  of  the  government. 

275 


276  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

War  conditions,  joined  to  the  multiplication  of  soci- 
eties engaged  in  various  kinds  of  relief,  early  made 
necessary  some  measure  of  government  regulation.  In 
August,  1917,  a  special  committee  was  formed  under 
the  direction  of  the  interministerial  committee  on  re- 
construction for  the  coordination  of  public  and  private 
relief  of  all  kinds.  In  November  a  national  office  was 
instituted  for  the  same  purpose.  With  the  cooperation 
of  the  Ministry  of  War  the  status  of  the  different  soci- 
eties and  their  fields  of  operation  were  in  a  general 
way  determined,  uniforms  or  insignia  for  members  or 
representatives  working  in  the  war  zone  were  pre- 
scribed or  approved,  the  transport  and  distribution  of 
supplies  were  regulated,  and  permission  was  accorded 
to  solicit  funds  by  public  appeal.  With  the  exception 
of  the  Red  Cross,  which  stood  upon  a  different  foot- 
ing, government  supervision  was  in  general  extended 
over  all  organized  relief  agencies  whether  French  or 
foreign. 

Of  the  French  societies  which  have  continued  their 
activities  since  the  war  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  re- 
construction, one  of  the  most  important,  in  addition  to 
La  Renaissance  des  Cites  already  referred  to,  is  Le 
Foyer  des  Campagnes.  This  society,  formed  in  1918  at 
Paris  and  carried  on  mainly  by  women,  has  for  its  object 
the  social,  hygienic,  and  artistic  education  of  country 
districts  and  rural  communities.  By  means  of  lectures, 
pamphlets,  and  public  discussion  it  has  sought  to 
interest  the  state  and  the  local  governments  in  the 
establishment  of  community  centers,  and  to  train 
directors  for  this  useful  form  of  community  service. 
Hampered  from  the  beginning  by  lack  of  funds,  it  has 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  277 

nevertheless  succeeded  by  the  aid  of  state  grants  and 
private  contributions  in  establishing  foyers,  or  com- 
munity houses,  at  Essomes  in  the  Aisne,  Ville-en- 
Tardenois  in  the  Marne,  Ressons-sur-Matz  and  Las- 
signy  in  the  Oise,  and  Juniville  in  the  Ardennes,  and 
will  shortly  open  a  sixth  foyer  at  Tricot  in  the  Oise 
and  a  seventh  at  Dun-sur-Meuse  in  the  Meuse.  There 
are  also  affiliated  foyers  at  Carignan  in  the  Ardennes 
and  Frestoy-Vaux  in  the  Oise,  in  whose  direction  the 
society  shares. 

Each  foyer  provides  a  large  hall  for  concerts,  public 
meetings,  or  plays,  a  restaurant  and  billiard  room,  a 
library,  and  ample  playgrounds.  At  Ressons  and  Juni- 
ville shower  baths  have  been  installed.  Plays,  con- 
certs, lectures,  and  fetes  are  given  from  time  to  time, 
there  are  classes  in  domestic  economy  for  girls,  and  in 
some  cases  medical  clinics  are  held.  Wherever  the 
foyers  have  been  established  they  have  become  centers 
for  social  gatherings  and  sources  of  enrichment  for  the 
community  life.  The  cost  of  installing  a  foyer  is  about 
40,000  francs,  to  which  is  to  be  added  from  35,000  to 
40,000  francs  for  a  demountable  frame  building  where 
one  is  purchased,  or  100,000  francs  if  the  building  is  of 
brick. 

The  movement  for  the  creation  of  community  cen- 
ters (maisons  communes)  had  from  the  beginning  the 
hearty  support  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Re- 
gions. In  April  and  July,  1919,  circulars  to  the  prefects 
urged  the  extension  of  all  possible  aid  to  such  under- 
takings. It  is  through  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  that  government  grants  in  aid  of  the  Foyer  des 
Campagnes  are  made. 


278  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  Societe  des  Foyers  of  the  Union  Franco- Ameri- 
caine,  although  principally  concerned  with  the  army 
and  navy,  has  established  foyers  for  civilians  at  Lille, 
Laon,  Nancy,  and  other  centers  and  conducted  a  num- 
ber of  summer  camps  for  children.  Until  1921  the  so- 
ciety received  considerable  aid  from  America,  but  its 
funds  are  now  derived  almost  wholly  from  French 
sources.  In  1921  it  expended  over  870,000  francs  for 
all  purposes. 

Another  French  society,  the  Retour  au  Foyer,  organ- 
ized in  1917,  has  since  its  establishment  provided  com- 
plete furnishings  for  1,200  homes  and  distributed  more 
than  15,000  articles  of  clothing,  18,000  fruit  trees,  and 
17,000  calves;  given  eighteen  milch  cows  to  nursing 
centers  in  mining  districts;  opened  two  schools  for  lace 
making,  and  assumed,  in  connection  with  a  subcommit- 
tee in  The  Netherlands,  the  cost  of  rebuilding  the  com- 
mune of  Eparges. 

No  data  are  available  upon  which  to  base  even  an 
approximate  estimate  of  the  financial  aid  given  by 
French  societies  and  individuals  to  the  devastated 
departments,  but  the  total  amount  is  undoubtedly 
very  large.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  philanthropic  aid  would  attain  in  France 
any  such  dimensions  as  would  be  possible  in  either 
England  or  the  United  States,  partly  because  the 
heavy  war  losses  left  no  class  of  society  untouched,  and 
partly  because  the  government  program  of  recon- 
struction has  been  so  considerable  and  comprehensive. 
Individual  and  local  contributions  to  the  work  of 
restoration,  accordingly,  have  in  France  a  significance 
far  exceeding  the  money  value  involved.    Some  of  the 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  279 

more  interesting  examples  are  particularly  worth 
recording. 

In  October,  1921,  the  village  of  Clery-sur-Somme, 
near  Peronne,  which  had  been  totally  destroyed  in 
1916,  celebrated  its  restoration.  Thanks  to  the  gen- 
erosity and  energy  of  M.  Maurice  Fenaille,  a  member 
of  the  Institute  of  France  and  of  the  Council  of  Na- 
tional Museums,  eighty  workingmen's  houses  have 
been  built,  two  farms  entirely  rehabilitated,  a  group 
of  public  buildings  comprising  a  mairie,  school,  and 
post  office  erected,  and  a  water  system  introduced. 
The  entire  cost  of  the  public  buildings  and  of  the 
houses  of  the  poorer  sinistres  was  borne  by  M.  Fenaille, 
the  indemnities  for  war  damages  being  left  for  the 
benefit  of  the  sinistres  whenever  the  indemnities 
should  be  paid. 

Reference  has  more  than  once  been  made  to  the  pur- 
pose expressed  by  the  government  early  in  the  war  of 
calling  upon  the  other  departments  for  aid  in  relieving 
the  departments  that  had  been  invaded.  It  does  not 
appear  that  any  such  official  appeal  has  ever,  since  the 
government  declaration,  been  seriously  considered. 
What  was  contemplated  in  1914,  however,  has  been 
done  with  impressive  success  in  another  way.  In  1920 
the  Union  of  French  Associations  for  National  Prog- 
ress, the  president  of  which  is  M.  Raymond  Poincare, 
former  President  of  the  Republic,  launched  a  nation- 
wide movement  for  the  adoption  of  devastated  com- 
munes. In  November,  1921,  M.  Poincare  was  able  to 
report  that  74  departments,  or  groups  of  communes  in 
these  departments,  had  already  adopted  1,852  dev- 
astated villages,  and  that  23,000,000  francs  had  been 


280  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

subscribed  for  the  purpose  by  departments,  municipal- 
ities, or  individuals.1  Fifty-five  departments  had 
adopted  the  full  quota  of  communes  assigned  to  them, 
and  eight  had  adopted  more  than  half  of  their  quota. 
Of  2,209  devastated  communes  which  had  asked  for 
aid,  all  but  357  had  received  it.  These  gratifying 
results  were  the  fruit  of  an  active  campaign  carried  on 
throughout  France  not  merely  for  the  relief  of  commu- 
nities in  distress,  but  also  for  the  rebuilding  of  towns 
and  villages  in  accordance  with  plans  in  which  com- 
munity centers,  dispensaries,  maternity  hospitals,  and 
water  supply  should  find  place. 

In  November  the  city  council  of  Rouen,  after  listen- 
ing to  an  address  by  the  mayor  of  Reims  on  the  urgent 
need  of  funds  for  rebuilding  in  that  city,  voted  59,000 
francs  for  the  construction  of  four  workingmen's 
houses.  A  few  days  later  a  syndicate  of  employees  of 
brokerage  houses  at  Paris  adopted  the  village  of 
Ablain-St.  Nazaire  in  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and  forwarded 
to  the  mayor  a  first  contribution  of  1,000  francs. 
The  commune  of  Sancy,  on  the  Chemin  des  Dames, 
was  adopted  by  the  railway  employees,  the  first 
building  to  be  erected  being  a  combined  school  and 
mairie  with  living  quarters  for  the  school-teacher. 
Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the  French  Colonial  Institute, 
which  has  itself  adopted  a  commune  in  the  Marne,  a 
contribution  of  675,000  francs  was  voted  for  1922  by 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Rhone  department,  in  which 
Lyons  is  situated,  had  adopted  42  communes  and  contributed 
2,473,000  francs,  while  the  department  of  the  Seine,  which  includes 
Paris,  had  contributed  only  1,250,000  francs.  The  contribution  of  the 
Seine  was  shortly  raised,  however,  to  1,750,000  francs,  the  additional 
amount  to  be  used  for  the  communes  of  the  Meuse,  Meurthe-et- 
Moselle,  the  Moselle,  and  the  Haut-Rhin.  The  number  of  com- 
munes which  the  Seine  had  been  asked  to  adopt  was  271. 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  281 

the  government  of  French  North  Africa.  In  Decem- 
ber the  city  council  of  Le  Havre  voted  an  additional  tax 
for  1922,  the  estimated  return  from  which  was  38,000 
francs,  for  the  benefit  of  Reims. 

A  number  of  foreign  countries  have  contributed, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  restoration  of  the  invaded 
area.  In  June,  1921,  the  government  of  Norway  trans- 
mitted 200,000  francs,  mainly  given  in  small  sums  by 
working  people,  for  the  restoration  of  the  Reims  cathe- 
dral. In  November  a  community  house  at  Doulieu,  in 
the  Nord  department,  built  by  the  Peruvian  govern- 
ment at  a  cost  of  100,000  francs,  was  formally  opened. 
A  contribution  of  40,000  francs  in  aid  of  a  children's 
hospital  at  Villers-Franqueux  in  the  Marne  was  made 
in  1921  by  a  Danish  society  through  the  Minister  of 
Justice  at  Copenhagen.  A  group  of  workingmen's 
houses  at  Lens  testifies  to  the  interest  and  sympathy  of 
friends  in  Holland  who  not  only  gave  the  houses  but 
also  sent  mechanics  to  put  them  up.  The  proceeds  of 
an  exhibition  of  paintings,  organized  at  Paris  by 
Czecho-Slovak  artists,  was  handed  to  the  Minister  of 
the  Liberated  Regions  in  January,  1922. 

In  Great  Britain  the  movement  for  the  adoption  of 
devastated  French  communes,  organized  and  directed 
by  the  British  League  of  Help,  has  made  remarkable 
progress.  At  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  League, 
held  at  London  on  July  14,  1921,  the  adoption  of  79 
towns  or  villages  and  contributions  of  5,180,250  francs 
were  reported.  The  city  of  Newcastle  had  sent  £12,000 
sterling  to  the  mayor  of  Arras,  together  with  150  pedi- 
gree pigeons  to  help  replace  the  stock  that  had  been 
killed  or  carried  off.    Kensington  had  sent  £1,100  ster- 


282  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

ling  in  money  and  goods  to  Souchez,  and  was  preparing 
to  send  £1,100  more.  Preston  had  contributed  £1,000 
sterling  and  £900  worth  of  goods  to  La  Bassee,  besides 
giving  some  twenty  children  of  the  town  a  holiday  in 
England.  Sheffield,  which  adopted  Bapaume,  had  re- 
mitted 230,000  francs  by  the  end  of  the  year.  In  Sep- 
tember a  delegation  of  49  mayors  of  British  cities 
visited  the  devastated  departments  and  Paris.  By 
January,  1922,  the  number  of  adoptions  had  reached 
nearly  one  hundred  and  the  list  was  still  growing. 

In  the  fall  of  1914  the  British  Society  of  Friends,  or 
Quakers,  began  general  relief  work  and  the  construc- 
tion of  temporary  buildings  in  the  Marne  and  the 
Meuse,  eventually  extending  their  efforts  to  other  de- 
partments. Permanent  houses  of  brick  were  erected  at 
Sermaize-les-Bains  and  Pargny,  and  a  hospital  was 
opened  at  Sermaize-les-Bains,  a  children's  home  at 
Bettancourt-la-Langue,  and  a  maternity  hospital  at 
Chalons-sur-Marne.  In  addition  to  constructing  hun- 
dreds of  houses,  barraques,  and  barns,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  society  helped  in  the  clearing  of  fields  and 
the  planting  and  harvesting  of  crops,  and  contributed 
large  quantities  of  seed,  tools,  furniture,  clothing,  bed- 
ding, and  the  other  supplies.  Beginning  with  the 
summer  of  1919  the  work  of  the  British  Society  of 
Friends  was  merged  with  that  of  the  American  Society, 
which  had  been  working  on  similar  lines,  under  the 
name  of  the  Anglo-American  Friends'  Mission.  The 
operations  of  the  mission  continued  actively  until 
1921;  then,  with  the  progress  of  government  recon- 
struction, the  representatives  of  the  mission  were  grad- 
ually withdrawn. 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  283 

It  was  natural  that  a  large  volume  of  philanthropic 
aid  should  come  from  the  United  States.  So  much  of 
the  American  effort  as  was  concerned  with  the  tem- 
porary relief  of  the  civil  population  does  not  fall  within 
the  scope  of  this  volume,  and  much  of  the  temporary 
rebuilding  that  was  done  during  the  war  was,  unhap- 
pily, swept  away  in  the  successive  German  advances. 
Once  the  armistice  had  put  an  end  to  hostilities,  how- 
ever, the  way  was  open  for  work  of  a  permanent  char- 
acter; and  while  no  such  large  organized  effort  as  has 
been  made  in  England  and  France  for  the  adoption  of 
communes  is  to  be  credited  to  the  United  States,  the 
record  of  American  achievement  is  nevertheless  consid- 
erable and  in  one  important  instance  has  unique  value. 

The  earliest  and  best  known  example  of  a  dev- 
astated commune  rebuilt  by  American  aid  is  Vitrimont, 
a  small  village  in  the  department  of  Meurthe-et- 
Moselle,  which  was  restored  at  the  expense  of  Mrs. 
Crocker  of  San  Francisco  under  the  direction  of  Miss 
Daisy  Polk,  now  the  Comtesse  de  Buyer.  The  com- 
mune itself  as  well  as  the  individual  sinistres  assigned 
their  indemnity  claims  to  Miss  Polk,  and  the  com- 
munal buildings  as  well  as  private  properties  were 
restored.  The  village  of  Hattan-Chatel,  near  St. 
Mihiel,  has  been  adopted  by  Mr.  William  Skinner  and 
his  daughter  of  Holyoke,  Massachusetts,  and  is  in 
process  of  reconstruction.  An  association  formed  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  has  undertaken  to  rebuild  the  vil- 
lage of  Belleau  as  a  memorial  to  the  American  soldiers 
who  fell  in  the  fighting  at  Belleau  Wood.  A  number 
of  other  communes  have  from  time  to  time  been 
adopted  by  American  cities  or  local  committees. 


284  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Among  important  gifts  to  devastated  communes  are 
to  be  noted  the  presentation  of  a  water  supply  and 
memorial  fountain  to  Tilloloy  in  the  Somme,  given  by 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and  in- 
stalled under  the  direction  of  the  Baroness  de  la 
Grange;  funds  in  aid  of  village  water  supplies  in  vari- 
ous localities,  given  by  Mr.  William  Nelson  Cromwell 
of  New  York;  a  water  system  for  Coucy-le-Chateau, 
the  gift  of  Mrs.  Whitney  Warren;  a  water  supply  and 
community  house  at  Apremont-la-Foret,  in  the  Meuse, 
provided  by  the  city  of  Holyoke,  Massachusetts,  and 
by  Miss  Skinner  of  that  city;  a  group  of  school  build- 
ings at  Chassemy,  in  the  Aisne,  a  contribution  by  the 
French  Restoration  Fund  through  a  French  society 
known  as  L'Ecole  pour  l'fficole;  a  gift  of  3,000,000 
francs  contributed  by  American  educational  institu- 
tions for  the  restoration  of  the  library  at  Reims;  and 
school  libraries,  the  gift  of  American  school  children, 
for  St.  Mihiel,  Sivry,  fitain,  Stenay,  Fresnes,  and  Neuf- 
Brisac. 

An  open-air  vacation  camp  at  Lille,  established  in 
1919  for  the  benefit  of  children  who  for  various  reasons 
could  not  enjoy  the  advantages  of  the  government 
camp  at  Camiers,  owed  its  inception  to  an  American 
woman,  Mrs.  Burr.  A  gift  of  Holstein-Frisian  bulls, 
presented  to  the  French  government  in  1921  by  a 
group  of  American  stock  breeders,  was  divided  among 
the  several  departments  in  geographical  order  begin- 
ning with  the  Nord  and  the  Pas-de-Calais.  A  legacy  of 
$2,000,000  under  the  will  of  Frank  H.  Buhl  of  Grove 
City,  Pennsylvania,  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the 
devastated  parts  of  France  and  Belgium,  was  an- 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  285 

nounced  in  June,  1921.  A  set  of  steel  molding  forms 
for  use  in  the  erection  of  a  special  type  of  concrete 
house  in  which  the  abundant  debris  of  the  invaded 
regions  can  be  utilized,  was  presented  to  the  govern- 
ment by  M.  R.  J.  Caldwell  of  New  York,  chairman  of 
the  French  Restoration  Fund.  A  group  of  fifty  Ameri- 
can students  of  architecture,  representing  twelve  edu- 
cational institutions,  spent  the  summer  of  1921  in  work 
at  Soissons,  Evergnicourt  (Aisne),  Verdun,  and  Reims1 
under  the  direction  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated 
Regions. 

Of  the  numerous  American  organizations  which  at 
various  times  have  contributed  to  the  reconstruction  of 
the  invaded  departments,  the  greatest  interest  and  in 
some  respects  the  greatest  importance  attach  to  the 
American  Committee  for  Devastated  France.  The 
work  of  this  society  is  particularly  instructive  not  only 
because  of  the  energy  with  which  the  society  has  been 
administered  and  the  wide  support  which  it  has  re- 
ceived in  the  United  States  and  in  France,  but  also 
because  of  the  success  with  which  it  has  applied  in  a 
comparatively  small  area  some  of  the  American  meth- 
ods of  social  settlement  work  with  which  rural  France 
was  previously  not  familiar. 

The  American  Committee  for  Devastated  France 
(known  in  France  as  the  Comite  Americain  pour  les 
Regions  Devastees),  incorporated  in  1917  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  New  York,  is  the  successor  of  the 
Civilian  Committee  of  the  American  Fund  for  French 
Wounded,  formed  in  1916  to  aid  the  civil  population 
of  the  invaded  regions.  Working  from  the  first  under 
the  official  patronage*of  the  French  government,  it  was 


286  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

assigned  by  the  military  authorities  to  the  department 
of  the  Aisne,  with  headquarters  at  Blerancourt.  Its 
first  field  of  work  comprised  the  cantons  of  Chauny, 
Coucy-le-Chateau,  and  Vic-sur- Aisne ;  in  January, 
1918,  the  Soissons  canton  was  added.  Taken  together 
these  four  cantons  constitute  perhaps  the  most  thor- 
oughly devastated  portion  not  only  of  the  Aisne  de- 
partment but  of  the  entire  invaded  area.  No  region 
more  likely  to  test  the  spirit  and  devotion  of  the 
women  who  mainly  composed  the  Committee  could 
have  been  selected  in  the  whole  war  zone,  nor  one 
more  certain  to  present  difficult  problems  of  recon- 
struction once  the  conclusion  of  peace  should  make 
reconstruction  possible. 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  German  offensive  of 
March,  1918,  the  representatives  of  the  Committee 
devoted  themselves  chiefly  to  preparing  card  lists  of 
families  that  had  returned,  providing  furniture  and 
necessary  supplies  for  the  temporary  houses  erected  by 
the  government,  aiding  the  restoration  of  agriculture, 
establishing  domestic  science  classes,  and  caring  for 
the  children.  When  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1918 
the  German  advance  again  drove  out  the  civil  popula- 
tion, the  Committee  helped  the  evacuation,  operated 
relief  stations,  kept  in  touch  with  refugees  in  other 
parts  of  France,  opened  a  supply  depot  at  Paris,  and 
continued  its  oversight  of  children.  In  August  a  chil- 
dren's colony  at  Boullay-Thierry,  in  the  interior,  was 
added  to  one  already  established  at  Beaumont-le- 
Roger.  An  arrangement  was  also  made  with  the  Amer- 
ican Women's  Hospital  organization  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  hospital  in  close  relations  with  the  Com- 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  287 

mittee,  the  hospital  itself,  after  a  period  of  migration, 
being  eventually  located  at  Blerancourt. 

Following  the  armistice  the  permanent  work  of  re- 
construction was  begun.  With  Blerancourt,  Vic-sur- 
Aisne,  Coucy-le-Chateau,  Anizy,  Soissons,  and  Laon  as 
centers,  the  Committee  undertook  the  restoration  of 
normal  conditions  in  some  77  devastated  communes, 
partly  by  providing  temporary  relief  or  granting  as- 
sistance where  either  was  necessary,  but  chiefly  by 
helping  the  people  to  help  themselves.  Thirty-two 
agricultural  syndicates,  26  in  the  canton  of  Coucy  and 
8  in  the  canton  of  Anizy,  have  been  formed,  and 
300,000  francs  advanced  for  the  purchase  of  grain. 
Forty  tractors  have  worked  over  9,000  hectares  of  land 
in  these  two  cantons.  An  abandoned  farm  at  Ville- 
neuve-la-Huree  has  been  brought  under  cultivation, 
the  products  going  to  the  syndicates.  Seed,  fruit  trees, 
poultry,  farm  animals,  tools,  and  fertilizer  have  been 
provided  by  gift  or  money  advances,  and  in  some  cases 
the  Committee  camions,  of  which  thirty  large  and 
small  are  in  service,  aided  in  carrying  crops  to  market. 
For  a  time  clothing,  bedding,  and  house  furnishings 
were  sold  at  low  prices  or  below  cost,  and  traveling 
stores  distributed  food  supplies  which  could  not  other- 
wise be  obtained.  Once  the  farmers  and  villagers  had 
become  reestablished,  however,  and  local  merchants 
had  returned,  the  free  distribution  of  supplies  or  their 
sale  at  less  than  market  price  ceased,  and  at  the  pres- 
ent time  practically  all  purely  relief  work  of  this  char- 
acter has  been  discontinued. 

The  problem  of  rebuilding  was  perforce  mainly  left 
to  the  sinistres  themselves,  the  procedure  under  the 


288  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

law  of  war  damages  taking  its  normal  course.  Impor- 
tant help  was  extended,  however.  The  difficulty  long 
occasioned  by  the  inability  of  sinistres  to  pledge  their 
indemnity  claims  as  security  for  loans  was  bridged  by 
loans  to  cooperative  reconstruction  societies,  thus 
enabling  the  societies  to  anticipate  government  pay- 
ments or  to  pay  for  work  already  done.  A  well- 
equipped  workshop  and  sawmill  at  Blerancourt  has 
turned  out  doors,  windows,  and  other  material  for 
houses,  and  a  quarry  is  operated,  the  products  of  both 
of  these  establishments  being  placed  at  the  service  of 
the  societies.  In  addition  the  Committee  itself  under- 
took contracts  for  building  or  repairing,  and  with  the 
aid  of  local  workmen  has  already  erected  5  storehouses, 
2  schools,  and  60  houses,  and  has  repaired  2  churches 
and  73  houses. 

Besides  helping  the  people  to  restore  their  homes 
and  farms,  the  Committee  has  also  devoted  itself  to 
caring  for  the  health  of  the  population,  improving 
education,  and  enriching  social  life.  In  1920  the  hos- 
pital at  Blerancourt,  with  twenty-five  beds,  was  given 
to  the  Committee.  It  has  been  enlarged  to  forty-five 
beds  and  is  now  in  charge  of  French  doctors  and 
nurses.  Eight  automobile  ambulances  are  in  service. 
A  district  nursing  service  is  maintained  with  the  col- 
laboration of  29  nurses  assigned  to  the  department 
of  the  Aisne,  and  a  district  nursing  center  has  been 
opened  at  Reims  which  cares  for  2,000  children. 
Baby  clinics  are  held  twice  a  week  at  nine  centers, 
schools  undergo  sanitary  inspection  at  least  twice  a 
year,  the  disinfection  of  houses  in  which  contagious 
diseases  have  occurred  has  been  taken  over  at  Soissons, 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  289 

and  layettes,  linen,  and  condensed  and  fresh  milk  are 
distributed.  In  each  canton  needy  sick  persons  are 
visited  at  their  homes  by  a  local  physician  at  the 
charge  of  the  Committee,  persons  in  need  of  hospital 
treatment  are  taken  to  Blerancourt  or  other  points, 
and  convalescents  are  returned  to  their  homes.  A 
dental  service  is  in  operation  at  Blerancourt,  and  a 
dental  inspection  of  school  children  is  made  twice  a 
year. 

Sixteen  foyers  have  been  built  by  the  Committee, 
and  moving  pictures,  concerts,  and  sports  are  provided 
or  arranged.  Five  public  libraries  and  23  traveling 
libraries  have  been  opened,  and  distributions  of  books 
are  regularly  made  to  11  foyers  and  34  schools.  Sev- 
eral hundred  school  desks  have  been  manufactured  at 
Blerancourt.  Most  of  the  bells  of  parish  churches  dis- 
appeared during  the  war;  an  Angelus  fund,  inspired  by 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Creevy  Hamm  and  administered  by 
the  Committee,  is  replacing  them.  In  14  centers  chil- 
dren are  assembled  once  a  week  for  gymnastics  and 
manual  training,  and  instruction  in  cutting  and  sewing 
is  offered  to  women  and  girls.  Thirty-five  villages 
have  domestic  science  classes  for  girls,  and  27  villages 
have  domestic  science  or  kindergarten  classes  for  chil- 
dren. A  demonstration  service  illustrative  of  Ameri- 
can methods  of  preserving  or  canning  food  has  already 
visited  20  departments,  and  a  second  service  is 
planned.  Numerous  athletic  clubs,  including  clubs 
for  girls,  have  been  formed,  athletic  fields  have  been 
provided  at  Soissons,  Vic-sur-Aisne,  Blerancourt, 
Anizy,  and  six  other  centers,  and  instruction  in  physi- 
cal education  in  the  schools  of  Blerancourt,  Anizy,  and 


290  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Coucy-le-Chateau,  and  in  parts  of  Soissons  and  Vic- 
sur-Aisne,  has  been  taken  over. 

The  total  disbursements  of  the  Committee  in  France 
since  1917  have  exceeded  18,000,000  francs.  Its 
budget  for  1921  called  for  the  expenditure  of  more 
than  $1,250,000. 

The  possible  future  of  the  American  Committee  for 
Devastated  France  offers  an  interesting  field  for  specu- 
lation. In  the  ordinary  course  of  things  the  realization 
of  the  government  program  of  reconstruction  will 
before  long  make  direct  private  assistance  unneces- 
sary. Within  a  few  years  at  the  most  the  destroyed 
communes  will  have  been  rebuilt  and  the  population 
will  have  become  once  more  self-sustaining  and  inde- 
pendent. In  the  summer  of  1921  the  Committee 
closed  its  center  at  Laon.  The  establishment  of  a 
district  nursing  center  at  Reims,  on  the  other  hand, 
and  the  recent  taking  over  of  seven  devastated  com- 
munes in  the  region  of  the  Chemin  des  Dames,  suggest 
the  possible  further  extension  of  the  field  of  the  Com- 
mittee either  in  the  Aisne  department  or  elsewhere  in 
the  liberated  regions.  Its  assistance  in  developing  and 
directing  district  nursing  and  child  welfare  work, 
neither  of  which  has  thus  far  received  much  scientific 
attention  in  France,  and  in  aiding  the  movement  for 
community  centers,  can  ill  be  dispensed  with  for  many 
years  to  come.  The  crucial  difficulty,  after  all,  is 
money  rather  than  opportunity,  for  the  field  is  wide 
and  the  need  great. 

One  of  the  lasting  contributions  of  public  and  pri- 
vate philanthropy  to  the  restoration  of  devastated 
France  has  been  its  encouragement  of  the  cooperative 


PHILANTHROPY  AND  SYMPATHY  291 

spirit.  However  praiseworthy  the  qualities  of  sturdy 
independence,  self-reliance,  and  thrift  which  French 
individualism  has  long  helped  to  develop,  individual- 
ism has  nevertheless  repeatedly  clogged  the  wheels  of 
reconstruction.  Against  this  tendency  such  organiza- 
tions as  the  Anglo-American  Friends'  Mission,  the 
Foyer  des  Campagnes,  the  American  Committee  for 
Devastated  France,  the  British  League  of  Help,  and  the 
Union  of  Associations  for  National  Progress  have  set 
themselves,  not  by  empty  precept  but  by  practical  ex- 
ample. Every  foyer  opened,  every  cooperative  society 
established  or  helped,  every  commune  adopted  or 
set  once  more  upon  its  feet,  has  been  a  potent  illus- 
tration of  what  can  be  accomplished  when  people  work 
together.  If  the  money  and  personal  service  which 
have  been  devoted  to  the  rehabilitation  of  devastated 
towns  and  villages  shall  have  served  also  to  implant  a 
new  community  spirit  of  cooperation,  the  cost  will 
have  been  small  indeed  for  the  gain  that  will  have  been 
made. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  devastated  zone  of  France  to-day  may  be 
likened  in  appearance  to  a  great  building  which,  long 
in  process  of  construction,  is  at  last  nearing  comple- 
tion. The  foundations  have  been  laid,  the  walls  and 
partitions  erected,  and  the  roof  is  in  place.  The  in- 
terior finishings  have  yet  to  be  added,  however,  while 
about  the  outside  are  scattered  the  debris  of  excava- 
tion and  construction  and  piles  of  miscellaneous  mate- 
rial still  to  be  used.  To  the  architect,  the  contractor, 
and  the  workmen  the  undertaking  is  pursuing  the  ac- 
customed course  save  as  incidental  changes  of  plan, 
delays  in  obtaining  material,  or  shortage  of  labor  have 
now  and  then  caused  the  work  to  stop.  To  the  owner 
or  future  occupant,  on  the  other  hand,  less  interested 
in  processes  than  in  the  earliest  possible  completion  of 
the  work,  the  progress  has  often,  perhaps,  seemed  slow, 
while  to  the  casual  passer-by  the  scene  may  give  only 
an  impression  of  noise  and  unsightliness. 

It  is  to  this  first  picture  of  disorder  and  incomplete- 
ness, the  feeling  of  something  overturned  and  wrenched 
that  has  not  yet  been  righted  and  repaired,  that  much 
of  the  popular  criticism  of  reconstruction  is  undoubt- 
edly due.  In  the  presence  of  ruins  the  like  of  which 
have  never  been  seen  anywhere  in  the  world,  there  is 

292 


CONCLUSIONS  293 

strong  temptation  to  conclude  that  nothing  important 
has  been  done.  Unsightly  barraques  and  shattered 
houses,  piles  of  stone  and  brick  and  twisted  metal, 
often  overshadow  in  interest  the  thousands  of  buildings 
that  have  been  restored,  the  hundreds  of  factories  and 
mills  that  have  been  erected,  and  the  millions  of  tons 
of  debris  that  obviously  must  have  been  removed.  A 
few  hectares  of  uncultivated  land,  still  strewn  with 
barbed  wire  or  scarred  by  unfilled  trenches,  may  go 
far  to  blind  the  eye  to  the  significance  of  the  well-tilled 
farms  extending  on  every  hand;  while  the  discomforts 
of  temporary  railway  stations  and  cinder  platforms 
seem  often  to  have  obscured  the  solidly-built  tracks, 
the  regular  service  of  trains,  and  the  shipments  of  coal, 
ore,  machinery,  lumber,  and  other  freight  which  the 
revival  of  industrial  life  in  the  invaded  departments 
has  produced. 

Yet  it  is  as  easy  to  overestimate  as  it  is  natural  to 
underestimate  what  has  been  accomplished.  The  pri- 
mary task  of  clearing  the  ruins  preparatory  to  re- 
building has  not  yet  been  completed;  in  more  than 
one  locality,  indeed,  it  has  hardly  been  begun.  Many 
industrial  establishments  have  not  yet  been  restored, 
the  mines  have  not  yet  attained  their  pre-war  volume 
of  production.  The  slow  progress  in  the  restoration  of 
the  sugar  factories  is  a  serious  matter  for  many  farm- 
ers as  well  as  for  the  consuming  public,  and  the  small 
number  of  cattle  means  a  lack  of  fertilizer  which 
cannot  be  made  good  by  the  use  of  chemicals.  Com- 
paratively little  attention  has  as  yet  been  given  to  the 
forests,  and  still  less  to  public  buildings,  churches,  and 
monuments.    The  neglect  of  permanent  housing  has 


294  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

not  only  created  a  housing  crisis  which  is  constantly 
becoming  more  serious,  but  has  also  had  the  effect  of 
giving  to  the  liberated  regions  an  appearance  of  pov- 
erty and  incompleteness  which  the  state  of  industry 
and  agriculture  belies. 

All  about  the  former  war  zone,  moreover,  are  areas 
that  have  been  neglected.  Most  of  these  areas  are 
small  villages,  but  some  comprise  many  hectares  of 
what  was  once  well-ordered  forest,  field,  or  pasture. 
Some  large  towns  and  cities  still  show  little  evidence 
of  reconstruction  in  either  their  residential  or  their 
business  quarters.  Whatever  the  cause,  whether  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  village,  doubt  about  the 
propriety  of  rebuilding,  or  delays  caused  by  the  slow- 
moving  government  machinery,  every  one  of  these 
neglected  places  is  an  eyesore  and  a  plague  spot,  re- 
flecting by  its  dreariness  and  desolation  upon  the  gov- 
ernment which  has  passed  it  by,  and  infecting  with 
discouragement  and  discontent  the  population  not  yet 
fully  reestablished.  Now  that  the  reconstitution  of 
industry  and  agriculture  is  as  a  whole  far  advanced, 
the  eradication  of  these  nurseries  of  complaint  and 
despair  ought  at  once  to  be  begun. 

Adverse  criticism  of  the  government,  however,  even 
where  government  effort  has  been  least  fruitful,  may 
well  be  restrained.  Wisdom  after  the  event  is  pro- 
verbially easy,  especially  where  problems  are  new  and 
tasks  many  and  complicated.  To  insist  that  the  gov- 
ernment should  have  done  this  rather  than  that  solves 
no  present  problem;  at  best  such  criticism  serves  only 
to  indicate  work  yet  to  be  performed.  The  large  lines 
of  the  reconstruction  program  have  been  drawn,  the 


CONCLUSIONS  295 

foundations  of  economic  restoration  have  been  laid, 
and  the  building  of  the  superstructure  is  far  advanced. 
What  remains  to  be  done,  great  as  it  is,  is  far  more  a 
matter  of  details  than  of  fundamentals. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  moreover,  that  the 
achievements  of  reconstruction  have  been  accom- 
plished under  the  stress  of  many  national  preoccupa- 
tions and  in  the  face  of  much  hostile  criticism.  The 
years  which  have  intervened  since  the  armistice  and 
the  peace  have  not  been  quiet  years  for  France.  An 
incessant  fire  of  political  attack,  now  from  radicals  and 
again  from  conservatives,  has  been  directed  against 
both  the  domestic  and  the  foreign  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  treaties  made  at  the  close  of  the  war 
have  given  rise  to  delicate  international  situations  in 
whose  treatment  France  has  played  an  important  and 
at  times  a  leading  part.  Within  France  itself  there 
was  much  to  reconstruct  besides  the  invaded  depart- 
ments. Pensions,  railway  reorganization,  housing,  and 
taxation  are  only  a  few  of  the  matters  to  which  gov- 
ernment and  people  have  been  forced  to  give  earnest 
attention.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  excuse  the 
government  if  under  all  the  circumstances  reconstruc- 
tion had  lagged;  that  it  has  progressed  as  it  has,  and 
that  more  than  fifty  milliards  of  francs  have  been 
found  to  support  it,  is  an  unparalleled  national  feat. 

What  will  the  invaded  departments  be  like  once 
they  shall  have  been  completely  restored?  Will  they 
exhibit,  in  all  essential  respects,  the  same  economic 
and  social  characteristics  which  they  had  before  the 
war,  or  will  they  have  become  a  new  region  with  new 
traits  and  new  ideals?     Will  the  war  have  been  to 


296  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

them  only  a  huge  calamity  whose  losses  have  never- 
theless been  made  good,  or  will  something  vital  have 
been  lost  that  cannot  be  replaced? 

Certain  economic  changes  of  importance  seem 
already  clearly  to  be  forecast.  The  course  of  recon- 
struction is  already  tending  to  make  the  liberated 
departments  more  an  industrial  region  and  less  an 
agricultural  one  than  before  the  war.  The  construc- 
tion of  larger  and  more  modern  factories  and  mills, 
the  extended  use  of  electrical  power  furnished  by  great 
generating  and  transmission  systems,  the  improvement 
of  railways  and  waterways,  and  the  provision  of  whole 
villages  of  attractive  and  well-built  houses  for  em- 
ployees, all  point  to  a  future  expansion  of  industry  far 
beyond  what  had  been  attained  in  1914.  Plans  are 
already  under  way  for  the  more  intensive  working  of 
coal  and  iron  deposits,  and  the  establishment  of  new 
industries  in  the  coal-mining  districts  is  going  on. 
Small  corporations  are  being  merged  in  larger  ones, 
and  capital  issues  are  increasing.  The  area  devoted  to 
agriculture,  on  the  other  hand,  tends  to  decline  as 
manufacturing  industry  expands,  and  with  a  prac- 
tically stationary  population  the  number  of  agricul- 
tural laborers  falls  as  the  number  of  industrial  workers 
rises.  The  failure  of  the  sugar  factories  thus  far  to 
rebuild,  the  precarious  state  of  the  wine  industry,  and 
the  deficient  supply  of  cattle  are  important  agricul- 
tural losses  for  which  no  offset  has  yet  been  found. 
Increased  use  of  tractors  or  electrical  power  for  farm 
work  will  doubtless  make  good  to  some  extent  the  loss 
to  the  farms  of  labor  drawn  into  the  manufacturing 
centers,  and  the  merging  of  small  farms  in  larger  ones 


CONCLUSIONS  297 

will  make  easier  the  use  of  mechanical  power,  but 
there  is  little  reason  to  think  that  even  with  these 
advantages  agriculture  will  long  hold  its  own. 

To  the  eye,  accordingly,  the  face  of  the  invaded 
departments  will  be  materially  changed  as  reconstruc- 
tion proceeds.  There  will  be  more  factories  and  mills 
and  fewer  small  farms.  The  rebuilt  houses  will  long 
have  a  new  look  even  when  built  on  ancient  lines,  and 
town  planning  will  change  the  appearance  of  more 
than  one  town  whose  arrangement  before  the  war  was 
more  picturesque  than  convenient.  There  will  be  evi- 
dences of  sanitation  which  many  of  the  older  commu- 
nities lacked,  better  provision  for  open-air  recreation 
in  the  industrial  communities,  and  enlarged  suburban 
districts  connecting  the  country  and  the  town. 

No  signs  are  yet  apparent,  however,  of  any  funda- 
mental changes  in  the  habits  or  temper  of  the  people 
that  are  not  already  taking  place  in  other  parts  of 
France.  The  indelible  mark  which  France  imprints 
upon  its  children  has  not  been  removed  by  either  war 
or  reconstruction.  The  same  strong  sense  of  nation- 
ality, the  same  attachment  to  country  and  to  place, 
the  same  industry  and  thrift,  the  same  mixture  of 
deference  and  contempt  in  the  face  of  authority,  and 
the  same  consciousness  of  a  great  history  which  has 
made  France  strong,  characterize  the  people  of  the 
half-built  towns  and  country  districts  of  the  north  and 
east  and  those  of  the  untouched  communities  of  the 
west,  the  Midi,  and  the  south.  The  war  swept  away 
vast  quantities  of  material  things  which  generations 
had  accumulated,  and  reconstruction  in  restoring 
them  is  rearranging  the  balance  of  social  classes  and 


298  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

spreading  a  new  spirit  of  cooperation,  but  in  other 
respects  the  temper  of  the  people  remains  essentially 
untouched.  The  greatest  danger  at  the  moment  is  that 
the  prolongation  of  reconstruction  over  many  years 
may  cause  the  people  of  the  invaded  regions  to  be 
regarded,  what  at  present  they  are  not,  as  a  class 
apart.  If  that  calamity  can  be  avoided,  the  liberated 
regions  will  have  only  a  more  vivid  memory  of  war 
and  a  more  grateful  sense  of  obligation  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  rest  of  France. 


APPENDIX  A 

Town  Planning  Law  * 
March  14,  1919 

Article  1.  Every  city  of  ten  thousand  inhabitants  or  over 
is  required,  without  prejudice  to  the  general  plan  of  lines  and 
levels  imposed  upon  all  communes  by  Article  136,  paragraph 
13,  of  the  law  of  April  5,  1884,  to  have  a  plan  of  arrangement, 
improvement,  and  extension. 

This  plan,  which  is  to  be  drawn  up  within  not  to  exceed 
three  years  from  the  promulgation  of  the  present  law,  shall 
include : 

1.  A  plan  fixing  the  direction,  the  width,  and  the  character 
of  the  ways  to  be  laid  out  or  modified,  determining  the  loca- 
tion, the  extent,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  places,  squares, 
public  gardens,  playgrounds,  parks,  and  other  open  spaces, 
and  indicating  the  reserved  areas,  whether  wooded  or  not, 
to  be  established,  as  well  as  the  sites  destined  for  monuments 
or  public  buildings  or  services. 

2.  A  program  determining  the  hygienic,  archaeological,  and 
aesthetic  restrictions,  as  well  as  all  other  conditions  relating 
thereto,  and  in  particular  the  open  spaces  to  be  reserved,  the 
height  of  buildings,  as  well  as  the  provisions  regarding  the 
distribution  of  drinking  water,  the  system  of  drains,  the  re- 
moval and  final  disposition  of  waste  and,  if  required,  the 
drainage  of  the  soil. 

3.  A  form  of  order  to  be  issued  by  the  mayor,  with  the 
advice  of  the  municipal  council,  regulating  the  conditions 
under  which  the  measures  prescribed  in  the  plan  and  the 
program  are  to  be  applied. 

The  same  duties  are  imposed: 

1  Bulletin  des  Lois,  Nouvelle  Serie,  No.  245,  pp.  558-563. 

299 


300  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

1.  Upon  all  the  communes  of  the  department  of  the  Seine. 

2.  Upon  places  of  less  than  ten  thousand  and  more  than 
five  thousand  inhabitants  the  population  of  which  has  increased 
more  than  ten  per  cent,  in  the  interval  between  two  consecu- 
tive quinquennial   censuses. 

3.  Upon  bathing  resorts,  seaside  resorts,  watering  places, 
health  resorts,  pleasure  resorts,  and  other  resorts  the  popula- 
tion of  which,  whatever  its  size,  increases  fifty  per  cent,  or 
more  at  certain  periods  of  the  year. 

4.  Upon  localities,  whatever  their  size,  having  a  pictur- 
esque, artistic,  or  historical  character,  included  in  the  list  re- 
quired to  be  drawn  up  by  the  departmental  commissions  of 
natural  sites  and  monuments  established  by  the  law  of  April 
21,  1906. 

5.  Upon  groups  of  dwelling  houses  and  localities  built  or 
developed  by  associations,  companies,  or  individuals. 

Article  2.  When  any  locality,  whatever  the  number  of 
its  population,  has  been  wholly  or  partially  destroyed  by  rea- 
son of  war,  fire,  earthquake,  or  any  other  calamity,  the  munici- 
pality is  required  to  have  drawn  up  within  three  months  the 
general  plan  of  lines  and  levels  for  the  parts  to  be  recon- 
structed, as  provided  by  the  law  of  April  5,  1884,  together  with 
a  summary  sketch  of  the  plan  of  arrangement,  improvement, 
and  extension  contemplated  by  Article  1  of  the  present  law. 

An  order  of  the  prefect,  issued  with  the  advice  of  the  com- 
mission constituted  by  Article  4  of  the  present  law,  shall  decide 
whether  the  locality  comes  within  the  scope  of  the  conditions 
set  forth  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  and  shall  fix  the  be- 
ginning of  the  period  of  three  months. 

Until  the  plan  of  lines  and  levels  has  been  approved,  no 
buildings  except  provisional  shelters  shall  be  erected  without 
the  authorization  of  the  prefect,  given  with  the  advice  of  the 
commission  constituted  by  Article  4  following. 

Article  3.  The  expense  of  the  plans  and  proposals  pro- 
vided for  by  the  preceding  articles  is  at  the  cost  of  the  state 
so  far  as  the  communes  covered  by  Article  2  preceding  are 
concerned,  notwithstanding  the  principle  laid  down  by  Article 
136,  paragraph  13,  of  the  municipal  law  of  April  5,  1884. 

The  same  provision  applies  to  the  localities  covered  by  para- 
graph 4  of  the  enumeration  contained  in  Article  1  of  the 
present  law. 


APPENDIX  A  301 

In  the  case  of  other  communes,  subventions  may  be  granted 
by  decision  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  rendered  on  the 
application  of  the  prefect  of  the  department,  upon  the  credits 
entered  under  this  head  in  the  budget  of  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior,  and  in  a  proportion  which  shall  be  determined  by  a 
decree  issued  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  rules  of  public 
administration. 

Article  4.  There  is  constituted  at  the  prefecture  of  each 
department,  under  the  presidency  of  the  prefect  or  of  his 
representative,  a  commission  known  as  the  "Departmental 
Commission  for  the  planning  and  extension  of  Cities  and  Vil- 
lages," composed  of  the  departmental  council  of  hygiene,  the 
departmental  commission  of  natural  sites  and  monuments, 
the  departmental  council  of  civil  buildings,  and  four  mayors 
designated  by  the  general  council. 

This  commission  shall  give  hearings  to  the  delegates  of 
societies  of  architecture,  art,  archaeology,  history,  agriculture, 
commerce,  industry,  and  sport,  and  of  transport  companies 
in  the  department,  as  well  as  to  the  mayors  of  the  cities  or 
communes  interested,  and  the  representatives  of  the  various 
public  services  of  the  state,  whom  it  thinks  ought  to  be  con- 
voked or  who  request  an  opportunity  to  present  their  views. 

It  may  add  to  its  number  rapporteurs1  who  shall  have  a 
deliberate  voice  in  matters  intrusted  to  them. 

This  commission  shall  bring  together  all  the  documents 
necessary  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the  communes  in  prepar- 
ing their  plans  and  to  guide  them  [in  that  work]. 

It  shall  give  its  advice: 

1.  With  respect  to  the  plans  drawn  up  by  the  municipalities. 

2.  With  respect  to  the  departures  which,  because  of  special 
difficulties  or  local  needs,  it  may  be  necessary  to  make  from 
the  principles  laid  down  by  the  superior  commission  constituted 
under  Article  5  following. 

3.  With  respect  to  the  aesthetic  or  hygienic  easements  (servi- 
tudes) resulting  from  the  plans  submitted  to  it. 

4.  With  respect  to  all  matters  which  the  prefect  deems  it 
useful  to  submit  to  it. 

Article  5.     There  is  established  within  the  Ministry  of  the 

*  There  is  no  English  equivalent  for  rapporteur.  In  this  connection 
it  apparently  means  an  expert,  or  a  person  with  special  knowledge 
of  a  particular  subject. 


302  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Interior,  tinder  the  presidency  of  the  minister  or  his  delegate 
and  the  vice-presidency  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Re- 
gions or  his  delegate,  a  superior  commission  for  the  arrange- 
ment, improvement,  and  extension  of  cities,  made  up  as 
follows : 

Two  senators  elected  by  the  Senate. 

Two  deputies  elected  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

Two  councillors  of  state  in  ordinary  service  designated  by 
their  colleagues. 

Four  mayors,  of  whom  three  shall  be  designated  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  and  one  by  the  Minister  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions,  two  to  be  from  communes  of  from  twenty 
thousand  to  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  and  two  from  communes 
of  more  than  fifty  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  director  of  departmental  and  communal  administration 
in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior. 

The  director  of  public  relief  and  hygiene  in  the  Ministry 
of  the  Interior. 

Four  members  of  the  superior  council  of  public  hygiene 
designated  by  their  colleagues. 

Four  members  of  the  superior  council  of  fine  arts  desig- 
nated by  their  colleagues. 

Four  members  of  the  general  council  of  civil  buildings 
designated  by  their  colleagues. 

Four  members  chosen  from  persons  interested  in  town  plan- 
ning (urbanistes) ,  architects,  and  other  persons  particularly 
qualified,  two  to  be  designated  by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions  and  two  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior. 

It  may  add  to  its  number  rapporteurs  who  shall  have  a 
deliberative  voice  in  matters  intrusted  to  them. 

This  commission  is  charged  with  drawing  up  general  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  the  municipalities  in  the  application  of  the 
present  law,  and  shall  give  its  advice  concerning  all  questions 
and  all  plans  referred  to  it  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
or  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  either  of  their  own 
motion  or,  upon  the  request  of  the  commission  itself,  by  a 
statement  setting  forth  the  reason  for  the  request. 

Article  6.  If  the  plan  concerns  only  a  single  commune, 
and  except  in  the  case  provided  for  in  the  fifth  paragraph  of 
Article  1  (governed  by  Article  8  following  in  regard  to  groups 
of  dwellings),  the  municipal  council  at  the  instance  of  the 


APPENDIX  A  303 

mayor  shall  designate  the  artist  or  the  society  to  whom  the 
sketch  and  the  preparation  of  the  plans  and  proposals  shall 
be  intrusted. 

If  within  two  months  from  the  promulgation  of  the  present 
law  such  designation  has  not  been  made,  the  prefect  shall 
notify  the  municipal  council  [make  such  designation]  within 
one  month,  failing  which  he  shall  himself  of  his  own  motion 
make  the  necessary  designation. 

If  the  plan  has  not  been  drawn  up  within  the  time  provided 
for  in  articles  1  and  2  above,  the  prefect  shall  proceed  of  his 
own  motion  [to  fulfill  the  .requirement]  at  the  expense  of  the 
commune,  and  the  commune  shall  forfeit  its  right  to  the  sub- 
ventions provided  for  by  Article  3,  paragraph  3,  of  the  present 
law. 

Article  7.  When  the  plan,  program,  and  order  provided 
for  by  Article  1  have  been  drawn  up  they  shall  be  submitted, 
with  the  approval  of  the  bureau  of  hygiene  and,  in  default 
thereof,  of  the  sanitary  commission  of  the  district: 

1.  To  examination  by  the  municipal  council. 

2.  To  an  inquiry  under  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  of 
August  23,  1835;  and 

3.  To  examination  by  the  commission  provided  for  by 
Article  4. 

The  municipal  council  is  then  required  to  give  its  definitive 
opinion. 

If  the  municipal  council  refuses  or  neglects  to  examine 
the  plan,  the  prefect  shall  notify  it  to  act  within  one  month, 
failing  which  he  shall  himself  examine  the  plan. 

The  same  procedure  shall  be  followed  in  case  the  municipal 
council  refuses  or  neglects  to  give  a  definitive  opinion. 

The  prefect  shall  transmit  the  papers,  together  with  his 
opinion  and  a  statement  of  his  reasons  therefor,  to  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  who  shall  consult,  if  he  thinks  best, 
the  superior  commission,  and  the  work  required  to  be  done 
in  carrying  out  the  plan  shall  be  declared  to  be  of  public  utility 
by  decree  of  the  Council  of  State. 

In  all  cases  in  which  a  locality  such  as  is  contemplated  by 
Article  2  of  the  present  law  is  concerned,  the  declaration  of 
public  utility  shall  be  made  by  order  of  the  prefect,  with  the 
approval  of  the  commission  constituted  by  Article  4,  except 
in  so  far  as  concerns  the  localities  enumerated  in  Article  1, 


304  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

for  which  a  decree  of  the  Council  of  State  shall  always  be 
necessary. 

Article  8.  Associations,  companies,  or  individuals  who  shall 
undertake  the  erection  or  development  of  groups  of  dwellings 
are  required  to  deposit  at  the  office  of  the  mayor  a  plan  or  ar- 
rangement showing  the  connection  with  the  public  ways  and, 
if  necessary,  with  the  conduits  for  drinking  water  and  the 
sewers  of  the  commune. 

Within  twenty  days  following  such  deposit  the  plan  shall  be 
submitted  to  examination  by  the  bureau  of  hygiene  or,  in 
default  thereof,  to  the  sanitary  commission  of  the  district, 
to  the  municipal  council,  then  to  an  inquiry  in  the  form  pre- 
scribed by  the  circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  of 
August  20,  1825. 

In  case  a  notice  duly  attested,  addressed  by  a  proprietor  to 
the  mayor,  is  not  acted  upon  within  one  month,  the  prefect 
may  order  the  inquiry. 

The  plan  shall  then  be  submitted  to  the  commission  provided 
for  in  Article  4  above,  and  approved,  if  necessary,  by  an  order 
of  the  prefect. 

The  decision  of  the  prefect  is  to  be  made  within  the  month 
following  the  inquiry.  Failing  a  decision  within  that  time, 
the  plan  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been  approved. 

When  the  plan  shall  have  been  approved,  no  building  shall 
be  erected  without  the  delivery  by  the  mayor  of  a  building 
permit  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Article  11  of 
the  law  of  February  15,  1902. 

Article  9.  When  the  plan  of  reconstruction,  arrangement, 
improvement,  and  extension  concerns  several  communes  of 
the  department,  the  prefect  may  call  for  a  sketch  of  the  plan 
as  a  whole  on  the  part  of  the  municipalities  interested,  and 
may  establish,  of  his  own  motion,  intercommunal  conferences 
with  a  view  to  the  constitution  of  communal  syndicates,  in 
conformity  with  the  requirements  of  articles  116  and  169  of 
the  law  of  April  5,  1884. 

The  plan  is  to  be  acted  upon  and  declared  of  public  utility 
according  to  the  forms  indicated  in  articles  6  and  7  of  the 
present  law. 

If  the  plan  goes  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  department, 
it  shall  be  reviewed  in  an  interdepartmental  conference  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  articles  89,  90,  and  91  of  the  law 


APPENDIX  A  305 

of  August  10, 1871,  and  shall  then  be  subject,  in  each  commune, 
to  the  procedure  contemplated  by  articles  6  and  7  of  the 
present  law. 

It  shall  be  declared  a  work  of  public  utility  by  a  law  which 
shall  determine  the  measures  necessary  for  its  application. 

Article  10.  From  the  date  of  the  publication  of  the  act  de- 
claring a  plan  of  reconstruction,  arrangement,  improvement, 
and  extension  a  work  of  public  utility,  or  of  the  order  of  the 
prefect  approving  the  plans  with  respect  to  groups  of  dwellings 
provided  for  by  Article  8,  the  proprietors  of  land  abutting 
upon  proposed  ways  and  spaces  shall  conform  to  the  regula- 
tions prescribed  by  law  regarding  building  lines,  and  shall 
not  erect  any  new  structures  without  having  first  obtained  a 
building  permit  from  the  mayor.  No  new  structures  abutting 
upon  proposed  ways  or  spaces  shall  be  erected  except  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  building  lines  that  have  been  fixed. 

To  insure  this,  no  structure  whatever  shall  be  erected  with- 
out the  delivery  by  the  mayor  of  a  building  permit. 


APPENDIX  B 

Law  of  War  Damages  * 

April  17,  1919 

Law  regarding  the  reparation  of  damages  caused  hy  the  events 

of  the  war. 

TITLE  I.    GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

Article  1.  The  Republic  proclaims  the  equal  and  united 
obligation  of  the  whole  French  people  with  respect  to  the  dam- 
ages of  the  war. 

Article  2.  Certain,  material,  and  direct  damages  in  France 
and  Algiers  to  immovable  or  movable  property,  caused  by  the 
events  of  the  war,  shall  give  right  to  the  complete  reparation 
provided  for  by  Article  12  of  the  law  of  December  26,  1914, 
without  prejudice  to  the  right  of  the  French  government  to 
claim  payment  of  the  same  from  the  enemy. 

The  following  shall  be  regarded  as  damages  resulting  from 
the  events  of  the  war,  namely : 

1.  All  requisitions  made  by  the  enemy  authorities  or  troops, 
levies  in  kind  of  any  form  or  character,  including  those  in  the 
form  of  occupation,  billeting,  and  cantonment,  as  well  as  taxes, 
war  contributions,  and  penalties  exacted  from  individuals  and 
collectivities.' 

2.  The  removal  of  all  objects  such  as  crops,  animals,  trees 
and  wood,  raw  materials,  merchandise,  furnishings,  securities, 
and  commercial  paper;  the  deterioration  or  destruction,  partial 
or  total,  of  crops,  merchandise,  and  all  movable  property,  who- 

1  Bulletin  des  Lois,  Nouvelle  Serie,  No.  248,  pp.  1156-1182. 
■  Collectivities  includes  all  kinds  of  societies,  business  organizations, 
local  governments,  etc.    There  is  no  English  equivalent. 

306 


APPENDIX  B  307 

ever  the  authors  of  such  removal,  deterioration,  or  destruction 
may  be;  the  loss  of  movable  objects,  whether  in  France  or 
abroad,  in  the  course  of  evacuations  or  repatriations. 

3.  The  deterioration  of  immovable  property,  whether  or  not 
in  the  form  of  buildings,  including  woods  and  forests;  the  par- 
tial or  total  destruction  of  buildings ;  the  removal,  deterioration, 
or  destruction,  partial  or  total,  of  implements,  accessories,  and 
animals  appurtenant  to  commercial,  industrial,  or  agricultural 
exploitation,  which  for  the  purpose  of  the  present  law  shall  be 
considered  as  immovable  property  by  destination,1  whether  they 
belong  to  the  exploiter  or  to  the  owner  of  the  property,  without 
inquiry  as  to  who  were  the  authors  of  the  damages  referred  to  in 
this  paragraph. 

4.  All  damages  within  the  purview  of  the  preceding  para- 
graphs caused  within  the  zone  of  frontier  defense  as  well  as  in 
the  neighborhood  of  military  locations  and  fortified  places,  with- 
out imposing  upon  those  who  have  rights  under  this  provision 
any  exception  based  upon  laws  and  decrees  concerning  military 
rights J  therein.  In  every  case  the  commissions  of  evaluation,  in 
fixing  the  amount  of  the  indemnity,  shall  take  account  of  the 
permissive  character  (caractere  precaire)  of  structures  erected 
in  military  zones  in  contravention  of  laws  and  regulations  or  by 
virtue  of  authorization  subject  to  an  undertaking  to  remove  [the 
structures]  upon  request. 

5.  All  damages  occasioned  to  small  fishing  boats.  An  ad- 
ministrative regulation  shall  determine  the  procedure  to  be 
followed  in  proving  and  evaluating  the  damage. 

Damages  within  the  purview  of  the  preceding  paragraphs 
shall  include  those  caused  by  the  French  or  Allied  armies, 
whether  by  reason  of  measures  in  preparation  for  attack,  pre- 
ventive measures  of  defense,  the  necessities  of  battle  and  of  the 
evacuation  of  threatened  points,  or  by  reason  of  the  require- 
ments of  occupation  in  those  portions  of  territory  which  have 
been  included  in  the  zone  of  the  armies,  and,  in  particular,  of 
requisitions,  billeting,  and  cantonment;  the  right  being  re- 
served to  the  claimant  to  avail  himself  at  his  discretion  of  the 
provisions  of  the  laws  of  July  10,  1791,'  and  July  3,  1877,  and 

1  Many  forms  of  movable  property  intended  exclusively  for  use  on 
or  in  connection  with  the  land  or  with  business  operations  are  classed 
by  French  law  as  immovable  property  by  destination. 

JThe  French  term  is  servitudes.  Rights  of  this  nature  are  some- 
what analogous  to  easements  in  English  law. 


308  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

of  the  decrees  of  August  2,  1877,  November  23,  1886,  and 
December  27,  1914. 

The  damages  shall  be  proved  and  evaluated  and  the  indem- 
nity determined  for  each  sinistre  according  to  categories,  fol- 
lowing the  classification  herein  provided,  in  conformity  with 
the  provisions  of  the  present  law.  The  sinistre  shall  have  the 
right  to  present  at  the  same  time  his  claims  to  the  various  cate- 
gories of  damages  which  he  has  sustained. 

Article  3.  Individuals  and  their  heirs,  associations,  public 
enterprises  or  those  of  public  utility,  communes,  and  depart- 
ments shall  be  entitled  to  exercise  the  right  herein  defined. 

Corporations  and  partnerships  (societes)  a  part  of  whose 
capital  was  withheld  by  citizens  of  the  enemy  powers  after  the 
first  of  August,  1914,  shall  be  reimbursed  by  the  state,  by  with- 
holding the  dividends  declared  to  holders  of  securities  who  are 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  enemy  powers,  or  by  other 
[forms  of]  retention  imposed  upon  such  holders,  the  part  of  the 
indemnity  which  the  capital  so  withheld  would  have  produced. 

An  administrative  regulation  shall  determine  the  conditions 
under  which  the  preceding  paragraph  is  to  be  applied. 

The  right  to  reparation  shall  attach  to  foreigners  in  France, 
and  to  naturalized  persons  from  whom  the  right  of  French  citi- 
zenship has  been  withdrawn,  under  conditions  determined  by 
treaties  to  be  concluded  between  France  and  the  nation  under 
whose  jurisdiction  these  foreigners  or  naturalized  persons  are 
or  have  been.  For  the  purpose  solely  of  preserving  their  rights, 
foreigners  shall  be  allowed  to  prove  the  damages  which  they 
may  have  suffered  and  to  have  them  evaluated. 

A  special  law  will  determine  the  conditions  under  which 
concessionaires  of  ways  of  communication  of  general  interest 
shall  be  admitted  to  the  benefit  of  the  present  law. 

TITLE  II.    INDEMNITY 

Article  4.  The  indemnity  with  respect  to  immovable  prop- 
erty shall  include  the  total  amount  of  the  loss  sustained,  evalu- 
ated on  the  eve  of  mobilization,  and  that  of  the  supplementary 
expenses  required  for  the  reconstitution  of  the  immovable  prop- 
erty damaged  or  destroyed. 

The  grant  of  these  two  elements  of  indemnity  is  subject  to 
the  condition  of  effectuating  the  reemployment  [of  the  indem- 
nity] in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  articles  following. 


APPENDIX  B  309 

In  case  the  reemployment  [of  the  indemnity]  is  not  effectu- 
ated, the  sinistre  shall  receive  only  the  amount  of  the  loss 
sustained. 

Article  5.  The  amount  of  the  loss  sustained  and  that  of  the 
supplementary  expenses  required  for  the  reconstitution  of  im- 
movables shall  be  evaluated  separately  by  the  commissions 
constituted  by  articles  20  and  following  of  the  present  law. 

In  the  case  of  buildings  and  of  immovables  by  destination, 
the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained  shall  be  evaluated  by  taking  as 
the  basis  the  cost  of  construction,  installation,  or  repair  on  the 
eve  of  mobilization,  deduction  being  made  of  the  amount  repre- 
senting depreciation  through  age  and,  in  the  case  of  immovables 
rebuilt  or  repaired  subsequent  to  mobilization,  [the  cost]  at  the 
time  when  they  were  repaired  or  rebuilt. 

[A  paragraph  relating  to  the  evaluation  of  damages  in  the 
case  of  immovables  that  had  changed  owners,  etc.,  was  repealed 
by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920:] 

In  the  case  of  the  immovable  property  referred  to  in  the 
second  paragraph  of  the  present  article,  the  supplementary 
expenses  shall  be  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  cost  of 
reconstruction,  installation,  or  repair  on  the  eve  of  mobilization 
and  that  of  the  restoration  of  the  same  kind  of  immovable  prop- 
erty at  the  date  of  the  evaluation. 

Subject  to  the  condition  of  reemployment,  the  amount  corre- 
sponding to  the  depreciation  resulting  from  age  shall  be  allowed 
to  the  claimant,  on  all  kinds  of  property,  to  the  aggregate  of 
ten  thousand  francs,  and,  for  the  remainder,  the  amount  may,  at 
the  request  of  the  claimant,  be  made  the  basis  of  advances  re- 
payable by  him  to  the  state  in  twenty-five  years,  beginning  with 
the  year  following  the  final  payment,  with  interest  at  three 
per  cent. 

Subject  to  the  same  condition,  the  depreciation  for  age  shall 
not  exceed  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  construction  on  the 
eve  of  mobilization  in  the  case  of  property  used  solely  for  agri- 
cultural purposes. 

For  the  repayment  of  these  advances  the  state  shall  have  a 
lien  which  shall  be  included  in  the  first  class  of  the  liens  gov- 
erned by  Article  2,103  of  the  Civil  Code, 

The  reemployment  [of  indemnities]  may  take  the  form  of 
immovable  property  having  the  same  destination  as  the  prop- 
erties destroyed,  or  an  immovable,  industrial,  commercial,  or 
agricultural  destination,  in  the  commune  where  the  damage 


310  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

occurred  or  within  a  radius  of  fifty  kilometres,  [but]  not  out- 
side of  the  devastated  zone.  In  every  case  of  expropriation  or 
repurchase  of  land  by  the  state,  reemployment  shall  be  effectu- 
ated, in  the  case  of  agriculture,  within  the  limits  of  the  dev- 
astated regions. 

Buildings  shall  be  reconstructed  in  accordance  with  the  pro- 
visions prescribed  by  laws  and  regulations  regarding  public 
hygiene. 

Within  fifteen  days  following  the  promulgation  of  the  present 
law  an  administration  regulation,  made  with  the  approval  of 
the  superior  council  of  hygiene,  shall  determine  the  rules  to  be 
applied  in  the  reconstitution  of  immovable  property  and  of 
groups  of  buildings. 

Reemployment  shall  be  regarded  as  complete  if  the  claimant 
has  expended  in  the  reconstruction  of  immovable  property  or  in 
the  restoration  of  an  enterprise  (exploitation)  an  amount  equal 
to  the  total  indemnity  of  all  kinds  accorded  to  him. 

If  the  reemployment  is  only  partial,  the  claimant  shall  receive 
only  the  proportion  of  the  supplementary  expenses  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  amounts  expended. 

In  the  case  of  immovable  property  other  than  buildings,  the 
amount  of  the  loss  sustained  shall  be  evaluated  by  taking 
account  of  the  deterioration  of  the  soil,  of  the  deterioration  or 
destruction  of  fences,  of  trees  of  all  kinds,  of  vines,  plantings, 
shrubs,  and  forest  trees.  Where  exploitation  is  resumed  the 
claimant  shall  be  entitled,  in  addition  [to  other  indemnity],  to 
the  amount  of  the  supplementary  expenses  necessary  for  the 
restoration  of  the  land  to  its  former  condition  of  use  or  pro- 
ductivity, the  rebuilding  of  fences,  the  removal  of  stumps,  new 
plantings,  or  reforestation. 

Claimants  shall  be  entitled  to  pool  their  rights  to  indemnity 
or  to  put  them  into  corporations  or  partnerships  (apporter  en 
societe)  for  the  purpose  of  reconstructing  immovable  property 
or  of  resuming  exploitation  or  [reconstituting]  agricultural, 
commercial,  or  industrial  establishments,  under  the  conditions 
and  within  the  limits  set  forth  in  the  preceding  paragraphs. 

In  case  rights  are  pooled  or  put  into  corporations  or  part- 
nerships, the  rights  shall  be  registered  only  at  their  pre-war 
valuation.1 

In  the  case  of  public  service  concessionaires,  departments, 

*  I.e.,  the  shares  or  subscriptions,  as  officially  registered  or  recorded, 
shall  be  on  the  basis  of  the  pre-war  valuation  of  the  rights. 


APPENDIX  B  311 

communes,  [and]  public  enterprises  or  those  of  public  utility, 
the  indemnity  shall  not  exceed  the  amount  of  the  expenses  of 
reconstruction  of  immovable  property  intended  for  the  same  use 
as  formerly  (avec  Vafectation  anterieure). 

In  the  case  of  concessionaires  of  mines,  the  grant  of  the 
indemnities  provided  for  by  the  present  article  shall  be  subject 
to  the  resumption  of  exploitation,  unless  the  impossibility  of 
such  resumption  is  duly  established,  in  which  case  the  indem- 
nity shall  be  solely  the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained. 

Article  6.  The  restoration  of  a  building  or  the  resumption 
of  exploitation  may  be  forbidden  by  the  tribunal  of  war  dam- 
ages of  its  own  motion  if  [such  restoration  or  resumption]  is 
deemed  impracticable  or  contrary  to  economic  interest  or  public 
health. 

Article  7.  In  case  reemployment  is  not  effectuated,  the 
indemnity  shall  nevertheless  be  calculated  by  taking  account  of 
the  amount  of  loss  sustained  and  the  supplementary  expenses. 
The  sinistre  shall  receive  the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained. 

The  supplementary  expenses  of  restoration  shall  be  placed  to 
the  credit  of  a  common  fund,  under  conditions  to  be  determined 
by  the  budget  law,  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  regions 
which  have  suffered. 

Article  8.  If  reemployment  is  not  effectuated,  the  payment 
of  the  loss  sustained  shall  be  made  by  the  delivery  to  the  sin- 
istre of  a  bond  (titre)  representing  the  amount  which  is  due  to 
him  and  bearing  interest  at  five  per  cent,  per  annum. 

These  bonds  shall  be  non-transferable  for  five  years  from  the 
date  of  their  delivery  to  the  claimants;  they  may,  however,  be 
assigned  during  that  period,  under  the  authorization,  accom- 
panied by  a  statement  of  the  grounds  thereof,  of  the  civil 
tribunal  sitting  en  banc,  the  ministry  [concerned]  being  heard. 
An  appeal  may  be  taken  from  the  decision  of  [the  court  of] 
first  instance  to  a  court  which  shall  render  a  decision  en  banc 
in  accordance  with  the  procedure  of  summary  jurisdiction. 

Every  transfer  made  in  violation  of  the  foregoing  provisions 
shall  be  void;  a  judgment  of  nullity  shall  be  rendered  at  the 
request  of  the  Minister  of  Finance. 

After  the  expiration  of  the  period  of  five  years  the  bond  shall 
be  redeemed  by  payment  in  cash  in  ten  equal  annual  install- 
ments, the  first  payment  to  be  made  at  the  expiration  of  the 
sixth  year  and  the  remaining  payments  at  the  expiration  of 
successive  period's  of  twelve  months. 


312  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Claimants  who  shall  undertake  to  reemploy  or  reinvest  their 
indemnity — under  the  conditions  prescribed  by  articles  9,  44, 
and  45  of  the  present  law — shall  receive  payments  in  cash  in  the 
ways  provided  for  by  the  said  articles. 

Article  9.  The  claimant  shall  have  a  period  of  two  years 
from  [the  date  of]  the  decision  fixing  definitively  the  indemnity 
in  which  to  consent  to  the  condition  of  reemployment.  He  shall 
be  required  to  furnish  in  support  of  his  agreement,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  calculation  of  the  supplementary  expenses,  a  plan 
of  the  work  to  be  done  or  of  the  purchases  to  be  made,  with  a 
detailed  estimate  of  costs. 

[Article  10  relates  to  the  payment  of  indemnity  and  the  con- 
ditions of  reemployment  in  the  case  of  property  held  in  joint 
ownership,  property  subject  to  liens  or  mortgages,  etc.] 

Article  11.  In  case  the  claimant  does  not  reemploy  [the 
indemnity],  the  owners  interested  may  form  syndicates  (associa- 
tions syndicates  autorisees),  under  the  forms  and  conditions 
prescribed  by  the  laws  of  June  21,  1865,  and  December  22,  1888, 
for  the  execution  of  work  of  collective  utility.  In  case  the 
commune  is  not  one  of  the  owners  presumptively  interested,  the 
mayor  shall  nevertheless  be  entitled  to  take  part  in  the  meeting 
[of  the  syndicate],  but  only  in  an  advisory  capacity. 

Article  12.  In  the  case  of  civil  or  church  buildings  the 
indemnity  shall  consist  of  the  amounts  necessary  for  the  recon- 
struction of  an  edifice  presenting  the  same  character,  having  the 
same  importance,  the  same  purpose,  and  affording  the  same 
guarantees  of  permanence  as  the  building  destroyed. 

This  importance  and  these  guarantees  shall  be  determined,  at 
the  request  of  the  interested  parties  or  of  its  own  motion,  by  the 
special  commission  hereinafter  provided. 

In  case  of  dispute  the  determination  shall  be  made  by  the 
tribunal  of  war  damages. 

The  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts,  with  the 
approval  of  the  said  commission,  shall  decide  in  regard  to  the 
preservation  and  consolidation  of  the  ruins  and,  eventually, 
their  restoration  to  their  former  condition,  of  monuments  of 
historical  or  artistic  national  interest.  Subventions  for  this 
purpose  shall  be  carried  in  the  chapter  of  the  budget  law  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts. 

If  reconstruction  on  the  site  of  the  ruins  is  not  authorized, 
the  indemnity  shall  comprise  the  amounts  necessary  for  the 
acquisition  of  new  land. 


APPENDIX  B  313 

The  commission  above  referred  to  shall  be  composed  of  two 
senators  elected  by  the  Senate;  three  deputies  elected  by  the 
Chamber;  two  members  of  the  French  Academy,  two  members 
of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles  Lettres,  two  members 
of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  appointed  by  their  societies;  a 
member  of  the  Superior  Council  of  Fine  Arts ;  a  member  of  the 
General  Council  of  Civil  Buildings;  two  members  of  the  Com- 
mission of  Historical  Monuments,  elected  by  their  colleagues; 
a  representative  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  Fine 
Arts ;  a  representative  of  the  Minister  of  Finance ;  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior;  a  representative  of  the 
Minister  of  Labor;  a  representative  of  the  minister  charged 
with  the  reconstitution  of  the  liberated  regions;  a  representa- 
tive of  each  religious  denomination  interested  in  the  repair  of 
buildings,  appointed  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior;  and  six 
artists  (personnalites  artistiques)  appointed  by  the  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction  and  Fine  Arts. 

Within  one  month  from  the  date  of  promulgation  of  the 
present  law  an  administrative  regulation  shall  determine  the 
operations  and  procedure  of  this  commission,  whose  duty  it 
shall  be  to  consult  the  municipal  councils  and  groups  interested. 

Article  13.  Damages  caused  to  movable  property  shall  be 
repaired  to  the  extent  of  the  loss  sustained,  evaluated  as  of 
June  30,  1914,  for  movables  other  than  agricultural  products, 
and  for  the  latter  as  of  the  date  of  maturity  of  the  crop.  In  the 
case  of  movable  property  purchased  or  produced  subsequent  to 
June  30,  1914,  the  evaluation  of  the  loss  sustained  shall  always 
be  made  on  the  basis  of  the  purchase  price  or  cost  of  production 
if  they  can  be  established. 

[The  second  paragraph  of  this  article  was  abrogated  by  a  law 
of  August  25,  1920.] 

The  indemnity  accorded  in  reparation  of  damages  caused  to 
raw  materials  and  industrial  stocks  shall  be  paid  in  the  way 
provided  for  by  Article  8  whenever  the  claimant,  if  he  has  sus- 
tained damages  to  immovable  property,  shall  not  have  consented 
to  the  condition  of  reemployment  and  whenever  reemployment 
has  not  been  prohibited. 

Supplementary  expenses  representing  the  difference  between 
the  loss  sustained  and  the  cost  of  replacement,  calculated  by 
taking  account  either  of  the  cost  of  replacement  if  replacement 
has  been  effectuated,  or  of  the  cost  of  replacement  at  the  date  of 
evaluation  if  replacement  has  not  yet  been  accomplished,  shall 


314  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

also  be  accorded  in  the  case  of  movable  property  comprised  in 
the  following  categories : 

1.  Raw  materials  and  stocks  indispensable  for  an  industrial 
enterprise,  to  the  extent  of  the  quantity  necessary  for  the 
resumption  of  normal  operations  and  of  manufacture  for  a 
period  of  three  months,  together  with  products  in  course  of 
manufacture  and  objects  appurtenant  to  the  exercise  of  a 
profession. 

2.  Animals,  if  they  are  not  considered  as  immovables  by 
destination,  as  well  as  fertilizer,  seed,  crops,  and  various  prod- 
ucts necessary  for  the  resumption  of  cultivation,  the  seeding  of 
land,  and  the  feeding  of  animals  in  agricultural  enterprises 
until  the  next  harvest. 

3.  Equipment  intended  for  use  in  commercial  enterprises  or 
in  the  exercise  of  a  profession,  together  with  goods  and  mer- 
chandise necessary  to  insure  the  carrying  on  of  commerce  or 
industry  for  a  period  of  three  months. 

4.  Household  goods,  furniture,  bedding,  linen,  personal 
effects;  ornaments  the  value  of  which  in  each  case  did  not 
exceed  three  thousand  francs  at  the  date  of  the  declaration  of 
war. 

Article  14.  Damages  caused  by  the  loss  of  bonds  or  coupons 
of  French  government  obligations  shall  be  made  good  by  the 
delivery  of  bonds  or  coupons  of  the  same  kind  in  replacement. 

In  the  case  of  French  bonds  or  coupons  other  than  those 
issued  by  the  state,  or  of  foreign  bonds  or  coupons  the  restora- 
tion of  which  cannot  be  had  in  France  by  legal  means,  the 
damages  shall  be  made  good  to  the  extent  of  the  loss  sustained, 
evaluated  as  of  the  last  quoted  market  price  before  the  date  of 
the  determination  of  the  indemnity  or,  in  default  of  quotation, 
by  direct  appraisal,  the  French  government  acting  by  subroga- 
tion for  the  claimants  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  resto- 
ration of  their  bonds  or  coupons,  and  reserving  in  all  cases  the 
right  to  free  itself  by  the  delivery  of  bonds  or  coupons  of  the 
same  kind. 

Article  15.  Immediate,  direct,  and  certain  war  damages 
caused  to  public  and  administrative  officers  shall  be  compen- 
sated to  the  extent  of  the  loss  sustained,  measured  by  the  differ- 
ence between  the  value  of  the  office  at  the  date  of  mobilization 
and  its  value  at  the  date  of  the  evaluation  [of  the  damage]. 

[The  remainder  of  the  article  deals  with  the  details  of  appli- 
cation of  the  foregoing  provision.] 


APPENDIX  B  315 

Article  16.  The  provisions  of  Article  10  relating  to  the 
conservation  of  rights  in  realty  shall  apply,  in  the  case  of  mov- 
able property,  either  to  the  objects  of  replacement  or  to  the  in- 
demnity accorded  in  their  place. 

Article  17.  When  protective  measures  have  been  taken  to 
avoid  damage  to  immovable  or  movable  property  or  to  prevent 
aggravation  of  damages,  an  indemnity  shall  be  accorded  in 
reimbursement  of  expenses  duly  proved. 

Article  18.  The  indemnities  accorded  under  the  provisions 
of  the  present  title  shall  not  be  added  to  any  other  indemnity 
received  on  account  of  the  same  events,  except  the  amounts 
which  the  French  government  shall  have  recovered  from  the 
enemy  by  virtue  of  conventions  and  treaties  regarding  damages 
of  every  kind  which  shall  not  have  been  provided  for  or  which 
shall  have  been  only  partially  provided  for  by  the  present  law. 

The  amounts  accorded  for  the  construction  of  temporary 
shelters  for  persons,  animals,  or  effects  shall  not  be  deducted 
from  the  total  of  the  indemnity. 

In  case  the  claimant  has  taken  out  insurance  covering  war 
risks,  the  indemnity  shall  be  calculated  by  deducting  the 
amounts  due  from  the  insurer,  but  account  shall  be  taken  of 
premiums  paid.  In  no  case  shall  insurance  companies  have 
recourse  against  the  state. 

Article  19.  For  the  purpose  of  provisional  construction  and 
under  the  conditions  of  the  present  law  the  claimant  may  obtain 
a  partial  payment,  the  amount  of  which  shall  not  exceed  one- 
third  of  the  total  indemnity.  In  that  case  the  balance  of  the 
indemnity  shall,  at  the  request  of  the  interested  pqrty,  be  capi- 
talized at  five  per  cent,  by  the  treasury  from  the  date  of  the 
initial  credit,  and  the  amount  so  obtained  shall  be  paid  to  the 
claimant  on  condition  of  definitive  construction,1  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  present  law  regarding  payment. 

TITLE  III.    JUKISDICTION 

Article  20.  Damages  provided  for  by  the  present  law  shall 
be  proved  and  evaluated  by  cantonal  commissions  formed  for 
that  purpose  in  conformity  with  the  following  provisions : 

In  each  department  concerned  prefectorial  orders  shall  fix  the 
period  within  which  cantonal  commissions  shall  be  constituted, 

x/.e.,  on  condition  that  the  amounts  paid  shall  be  used  for  per- 
manent construction. 


316  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

the  number  of  those  commissions  for  each  canton,  the  seat  and 
jurisdiction  of  each  of  them,  and  the  date  at  which  they  shall 
begin  operations. 

If  the  situation  or  condition  of  certain  communes  so  require, 
the  seat  of  a  commission  may  be  fixed  in  a  commune  of  a  neigh- 
boring department  by  order  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions. 

When  the  place  where  the  damage  took  place  is  not  known, 
and  when  for  other  reasons  it  is  not  possible  to  proceed  to  prove 
such  damage  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  cantonal  commis- 
sion already  constituted,  the  proof  and  evaluation  of  the  dam- 
age shall  be  made  by  a  special  commission  the  composition  of 
which  shall  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  cantonal  commissions, 
and  which  shall  have  its  seat  at  Paris. 

The  tribunal  of  war  damages  of  the  Seine  shall  have  jurisdic- 
tion to  pass  upon  appeals  taken  from  the  decisions  rendered  by 
the  commission  in  question. 

If  the  subject  of  the  damage  extends  over  several  cantons, 
jurisdiction  shall  attach  to  the  commission  of  the  canton  in 
which  the  principal  part  [of  the  damage]  is  situated. 

For  the  ascertainment  and  appraisal  of  war  damages  caused 
to  ferries  and  to  transport  and  towing  enterprises  on  navigable 
waterways,  a  special  commission  sitting  at  Paris  in  the  Min- 
istry of  Public  Works  is  established.  If  the  place  of  the  damage 
is  known  and  the  damage  can  be  proved,  the  cantonal  commis- 
sion of  the  place  in  which  the  damage  occurred  shall  proceed  to 
take  the  proof,  if  the  interested  party  so  requests,  and  in  his 
presence.  A  record  of  the  proceeding  in  proof  shall  be  drawn 
up,  and  this  record  shall  be  transmitted  within  eight  days  to  the 
special  commission  charged  with  the  evaluation  of  the  damage. 

Appeals  taken  from  the  decisions  rendered  by  this  special 
commission  shall  be  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  war  dam- 
ages of  the  Seine. 

Article  21.  The  cantonal  commissions  shall  be  composed 
of  five  members: 

1.  A  president,  chosen  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court 
of  appeal  by  the  presiding  judge  (premier  president),  or,  in 
default  [of  such  choice],  outside  of  the  jurisdiction,  by  the 
Minister  of  Justice,  from  among  the  judges  of  civil  tribunals 
and  judges  of  the  peace  or  former  magistrates  of  civil  tribunals 
and  tribunals  of  commerce  who  have  served  ten  years,  advocates 
who  have  practiced  at  least  ten  years,  retired  solicitors  and 


APPENDIX  B  317 

notaries  who  have  practiced  their  profession  for  the  same  length 
of  time  or  who  for  ten  years  in  succession  have  practiced  their 
profession  of  advocate  or  administrative  officer  or  magisterial 
functions. 

2.  A  representative  appointed  by  the  ministers  of  Finance 
and  of  the  Liberated  Regions. 

3.  An  architect,  contractor,  or  engineer. 

4.  An  official  appraiser,  clerk  or  retired  clerk,  dealer  in  furni- 
ture, or  other  person  possessing  special  competence  for  the 
evaluation  of  household  goods  and  personal  effects. 

5.  A  farmer,  industrial,  merchant,  or  skilled  workman,  chosen 
according  to  the  case  and  the  nature  of  the  damages  to  be 
evaluated. 

[A  law  of  October  23,  1919,  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
one  or  more  alternates,  etc.  The  members  of  the  commission, 
except  the  representative  of  the  Minister  of  Finance,  together 
with  alternates  and  secretaries,  are  to  be  appointed  by  the  civil 
tribunal  sitting  en  banc.  The  president  and  two  members  are 
necessary  for  the  transaction  of  business.  All  correspondence 
is  to  be  transmitted  in  sealed  envelopes.] 

Article  22.  In  the  case  of  damages  to  mines,  mining  prop- 
erties or  quarries,  woods  and  forests,  or  ponds,  the  commission 
shall  be  composed  as  follows :  a  president  appointed  as  under  the 
preceding  article,  a  representative  of  the  Minister  of  Finance, 
two  members  chosen  by  lot  from  among  persons  engaged  in 
developing  mines,  woods,  or  ponds,  and  an  agent  of  [the  public 
service  of]  public  works  or  of  waters  and  forests,  appointed  by 
the  ministers  concerned,  and  a  miner,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  damages  to  be  evaluated. 

In  the  case  of  damages  to  ferries,  or  to  transport  or  towing 
enterprises  on  navigable  waterways,  the  commission  shall  be 
composed  as  follows:  a  president  appointed  by  the  presiding 
judge  of  the  court  of  Paris  as  under  the  preceding  article,  a 
representative  of  the  Minister  of  Finance,  a  representative  of 
the  Minister  oftPublic  Works,  a  shipbuilder  or  boatman.  These 
last  two  members  shall  be  appointed  by  the  advisory  committee 
of  interior  navigation,  which  shall  at  the  same  time  designate  in 
each  category  one  or  more  alternates. 

Article  23.  There  shall  be  constituted  in  each  department 
a  technical  committee,  which  shall  prepare  or  cause  to  be  pre- 
pared by  competent  persons  or  associations  series  of  prices 
relating  to  immovable  property,  in  order  to  facilitate  on  the 


318  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

one  hand  the  calculation  of  the  loss  sustained,  and  on  the  other 
hand  the  determination  of  the  supplementary  expenses  of  re- 
construction and  the  value  of  replacement. 

This  committee  shall  be  called  together  by  the  president  not 
later  than  the  month  preceding  the  meeting  of  each  cantonal 
commission.  It  shall  comprise,  besides  the  prefect  or  his  repre- 
sentative, a  representative  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Works,  a 
representative  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions;  the 
presidents  and  vice-presidents  of  commercial  tribunals  and 
chambers  of  commerce,  of  agricultural  associations  and  com- 
mittees, and  of  conciliation  councils  of  the  department;  a  mem- 
ber of  the  departmental  council  of  civil  buildings  designated  by 
that  organization;  a  member  of  each  of  the  societies  of  archi- 
tects and  engineers  existing  in  the  department. 

The  series  of  prices  shall  be  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the 
commissions  of  evaluation  and  of  the  appropriate  tribunals, 
which  may  use  them  in  evaluating  damages  and  fixing  in- 
demnities. 

Article  24.  From  the  publication  of  the  prefectorial  order 
announcing  that  the  commissions  have  begun  operations,  the 
parties  interested  shall  be  at  liberty  to  file  their  claims,  with 
the  papers  relating  thereto,  with  the  clerk  of  the  appropriate 
commission,  who  shall  give  a  receipt  therefor. 

[A  paragraph  authorizing  the  deposit  of  papers  with  the 
mayor  or  prefect  was  abrogated  by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920.] 

The  sinistre  shall  indicate  the  names  and  residences  of  cred- 
itors, mortgagees,  holders  of  liens,  persons  having  rights  of  use, 
habitation,  or  easement,  as  well  as  those  having  rights  under 
promises  of  sale,  if  any  such  there  be. 

These  creditors  shall  be  informed  of  the  claim  by  the  clerk,  and 
shall  be  entitled  to  present  their  case  before  the  cantonal  com- 
mission and  the  tribunal  of  war  damages  within  eight  days.1 

In  the  case  of  property  belonging  to  communes,  if  the  mayor 
does  not  act  within  three  months  any  registered  taxpayer  of 
the  commune  shall  have  the  right  to  file  a  claim  for  the  repara- 
tion of  damages  occasioned  to  communal  property. 

[Article  25  relates  to  claims  involving  married  women,  incom- 
petents, absent  persons,  and  persons  under  guardianship.] 

Article  26.  If  the  sinistre  shall  show  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  proceed  to  the  proof  and  evaluation  of  any  save  a 
part  of  the  damages  occasioned  to  his  property,  the  commission 

1  Amended  by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920. 


APPENDIX  B  319 

6hall  proceed  with  partial  proofs  and  evaluations.  *It  shall  at 
the  same  time,  in  a  separate  decision,  give  notice  of  the  approxi- 
mate amount  of  damages  not  evaluated. 

In  the  case  of  the  civil  or  church  buildings  referred  to  in 
Article  12,  the  commission  shall  also  give  provisional  notice  of 
the  amount  of  the  damages  before  transmitting  the  papers  to 
the  special  commission  constituted  under  the  Ministry  of  Fine 
Arts  by  the  said  article.1 

Article  27.  [The  clerk  is  to  notify  and  summon  the  inter- 
ested parties,  the  state  being  represented  by  the  prefect.] 

The  president  is  empowered  to  put  the  papers  (dossiers)  in 
proper  form. 

The  commission  shall  hear  the  parties  and  others  interested. 
It  may  also  hear  any  persons  specially  competent  for  the  evalua- 
tion of  particular  kinds  of  damages,  and  may  direct  any  expert 
examinations  or  measures  of  information  that  may  seem  to  it 
useful.  It  may  visit  the  places  [where  the  damages  are  situated] 
and  for  this  purpose  may  delegate  two  or  more  of  its  members. 

The  commission  may  in  all  cases  authorize  its  president  to 
take  personally  the  measures  of  information  enumerated  in  this 
[the  preceding]  paragraph.' 

The  parties  may  be  assisted  or  represented  by  a  member  of 
their  family,  parent  or  relative,  or  by  a  member  of  the  bar,  or 
by  a  public  or  ministerial  officer,  or  by  a  legal  representative 
attached  to  the  tribunals  of  commerce.' 

[Certain  prior  laws  made  applicable.] 

Article  28.  The  commission  shall  endeavor  to  bring  the  par- 
ties to  an  agreement,  shall  attest  the  settlements  if  any  are 
made,  and  shall  decide  whether  they  ought  to  be  approved  by 
judicial  or  administrative  authority  (homologues).  In  that 
case  the  settlement  shall  be  final;  a  record  with  statement  of 
reasons  shall  be  drawn  up,  and  the  evaluation  shall  be  con- 
clusive. 

In  case  an  agreement  is  not  reached  the  commission  shall 
draw  up  a  statement  of  the  claims  and  contentions  of  the  parties 
and  of  the  points  on  which  they  disagree.  It  shall  establish  the 
reality  and  importance  of  the  damages  by  categories,  in  accord- 
ance with  Article  2  of  the  present  law,  with  a  separate  evalua- 
tion of  each  of  the  elements  of  which  it  is  composed. 

Amended  form  of  Article  26,  under  a  law  of  August  25,  1920. 
■Amended  by  a  law  of  October  23,  1919. 
"Amended  by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920. 


320  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  clerk  shall  send  to  the  parties,  by  registered  letter  with  a 
request  for  acknowledgment  of  its  receipt,  a  summary  notice 
of  the  decisions  of  the  commission,  and  at  the  same  time  shall 
notify  them  that  they  have  a  period  of  one  month  from  the  date 
when  the  notice  is  received  in  which  to  examine  their  papers  at 
the  clerk's  office  and,  if  they  wish,  to  carry  their  contentions  to 
the  tribunal  of  war  damages. 

This  tribunal  acquires  jurisdiction  by  a  statement  entered  by 
the  parties,  or  by  their  specially  authorized  agent,  upon  a 
register  kept  by  the  clerk  of  the  said  tribunal,  who  shall  give  a 
receipt  for  the  statement. 

The  record  of  the  cantonal  commission,  the  facts  of  the  case, 
and  all  the  documents  shall  then  be  transmitted  by  the  clerk 
of  the  commission  to  the  clerk  of  the  tribunal  of  war  damages. 

Article  29.  There  shall  be  established  temporarily  at  the 
seat  of  government  (chef -lieu)  of  each  arrondissement  in  which 
cantonal  commissions  have  been  constituted  a  tribunal  of  war 
damages. 

If  circumstances  are  such  that  a  tribunal  cannot  be  estab- 
lished at  the  seat  of  government  (siege),  it  shall  be  set  up  pro- 
visionally in  a  neighboring  arrondissement. 

The  tribunal  may  be  divided  into  as  many  sections  (chamhres) 
as  the  need  may  require.  Business  shall  be  distributed  among 
the  sections  by  the  president  of  the  first  section ;  matters  relating 
to  the  same  canton  shall,  so  far  as  possible,  be  assigned  to  the 
same  section. 

Each  section  of  this  tribunal  shall  be  composed: 

1.  Of  a  president  designated  by  decree,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Minister  of  Justice,  from  among  the  honorary  or 
active  judges  of  the  courts  of  appeal  and  tribunals  of  first 
instance. 

2.  Of  two  members  and  two  alternates  designated  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  president,  and  chosen  from  among  the  active  or 
honorary  judges  of  the  courts  of  appeal  and  tribunals  of  first 
instance  and  prefectorial  councils,  former  heads  of  the  society 
of  advocates,  professors  of  law  faculties,  former  presidents  of 
the  society  of  advocates  of  the  Council  of  State  and  the  Court 
of  Cassation  and  of  societies  of  solicitors  and  notaries. 

3.  Of  two  members  and  two  alternates  chosen  by  lot,  at  the 
beginning  of  each  session  of  two  months,  from  a  list  of  twenty 
members  designated  by  the  general  council. 


APPENDIX  B  321 

No  decision  of  the  tribunal  shall  be  valid  unless  three  mem- 
bers, including  the  president,  are  present. 

The  tribunal  shall  be  assisted  by  a  clerk  appointed  by  order 
of  the  Minister  of  Justice. 

Article  30.  The  tribunal  shall  pronounce  upon  the  reality 
and  importance  of  damages,  in  as  many  separate  decisions  as 
there  are  categories,  in  accordance  with  Article  2  of  the  present 
law,  with  separate  evaluation  of  each  of  the  elements  which  they 
comprise. 

If  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  present  law  and  by  decrees  and 
orders  issued  for  its  execution  shall  not  have  been  observed,  it 
shall  set  aside  the  irregular  proceedings  either  of  its  own  motion 
or  at  the  request  of  the  interested  parties.  If  a  judgment 
setting  aside  a  proceeding  is  rendered  the  tribunal  may,  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  and  the  state  of  the  record,  remand 
the  case  to  the  cantonal  commission  or  proceed  itself  to  the 
evaluation  of  the  damages  and  the  determination  of  the  in- 
demnity. 

The  tribunal  shall  decide  upon  written  statements  and  with- 
out appeal  upon  report  by  one  of  the  judges.  The  parties  may, 
at  their  request,  themselves  present  brief  oral  arguments  or  may 
have  the  same  presented  by  a  member  of  their  family,  parent  or 
relative,  by  a  practicing  advocate,  by  an  administrative  officer 
of  the  jurisdiction,  o.r  by  the  representative  of  a  regularly  con- 
stituted association  of  sinistres. 

The  report  shall  be  read  and  judgment  pronounced  at  a  public 
sitting. 

[Article  31  relates  to  allowances  to  be  made  to  members  of 
commissions  and  tribunals.] 

Article  32.  Every  mode  of  proof,  even  by  simple  presump- 
tions, shall  be  admissible  to  establish  the  reality  and  importance 
of  the  damages,  whatever  their  nature,  covered  by  the  present 
law. 

Parents  and  domestic  servants  may  be  heard  as  witnesses. 

The  cantonal  commission  and  the  tribunal  of  war  damages 
may  direct  the  production  of  extracts,  attested  copies,  copies  of 
public  or  private  papers,  of  registers  and  commercial  ac- 
counts, and  in  general  of  all  papers  relevant  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  reality  of  the  damage  and  the  ascertainment  of 
the  evaluation. 

They  shall  fix  the  periods  within  which  inquiries,  expert 
examinations,  and  other  methods  of  obtaining  information  are 


322  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

to  be  completed.    Experts  who  do  not  conform  to  the  limits  of 
time  set  for  them  may  be  removed. 

Article  33.  If  there  shall  be  dispute  in  regard  to  the  legal 
right  or  standing  of  the  claimant,  and  whenever  difficulties 
foreign  to  the  determination  of  the  amount  of  the  indemnity 
shall  arise,  the  indemnity  shall  be  determined  independently  of 
such  disputes  and  difficulties,  with  respect  to  which  the  parties 
shall  be  relegated  to  their  remedies  at  law. 

Article  34.  Periods  of  time  are  to  be  reckoned  in  accordance 
with  Article  1,033  of  the  code  of  civil  procedure. 

[Article  35  exempts  from  internal  revenue  charges  the  deci- 
sions, papers,  etc.,  of  the  commissions  and  tribunals,  but  un- 
stamped instruments  presented  are  to  be  stamped  if  the  law  so 
requires.] 

Article  36.  Appeal  may  be  taken  from  the  decisions  of  the 
tribunal  of  war  damages  to  the  Council  of  State  on  the  ground 
of  want  of  jurisdiction,  undue  exercise  of  power,  or  violation 
of  law.  The  period  allowed  [for  appeal]  shall  be  one  month 
from  the  date  at  which  the  parties  are  notified  of  the  decision 
by  the  clerk,  by  registered  letter  with  a  request  for  acknowledg- 
ment of  receipt.1  The  [notice  of]  appeal  shall  be  filed  with  the 
clerk  of  the  tribunal  of  war  damages. 

The  judgment  annulling  the  decision  shall  designate  a  tri- 
bunal to  pass  de  novo  upon  the  claim  to  indemnity. 

Article  37.  [The  first  paragraph  of  this  article,  limiting  to 
two  years  from  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of  peace  the  period 
within  which  claims  to  indemnity  under  Article  2  might  be 
presented,  was  abrogated  by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920.] 

If  the  commissions  and  the  tribunal  established  by  the  present 
law  shall  have  been  dissolved  at  the  time  when  action  is  begun, 
the  action  shall  be  brought  before  the  prefectorial  council  sub- 
ject to  appeal  to  the  Council  of  State. 

Article  38.  Membership  of  a  tribunal  of  war  damages  shall 
be  incompatible  with  membership  of  a  cantonal  commission, 
with  the  character  of  a  claimant  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
tribunal,  and  with  the  exercise  of  an  elective  office. 

Article  39.  Every  person  who  by  reason  of  his  office  or 
functions  is  called  upon  to  participate  in  the  procedure  estab- 
lished by  the  present  law  shall  be  bound  to  professional  secrecy 
under  the  provisions  of  Article  378  of  the  penal  code,  and  liable 
to  the  penalties  provided  by  the  said  article. 

1This  sentence  is  as  amended  by  a  law  of  August  25,  1920. 


APPENDIX  B  323 

[Article  40  provides  for  the  issuance  of  a  decree  defining  the 
duties  of  clerks  of  commissions  and  tribunals.] 

Article  41.  There  shall  be  delivered  to  the  claimant  upon 
his  request  and  within  fifteen  days,  by  the  clerk  of  the  cantonal 
commission  or  of  the  tribunal  of  war  damages,  a  summary  of 
every  decision  in  which  he  is  concerned.  The  summary  shall 
indicate  the  name  of  the  claimant,  the  category  and  nature  of 
the  damages,  the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained  and,  if  such  there 
be,  the  amount  representing  depreciation  for  age  and  the  supple- 
mentary expenses  of  .reconstitution  or  replacement. 

[Certain  certificates  for  use  before  the  Council  of  State  are 
to  be  delivered  under  the  same  conditions.] 

Article  42.  During  the  course  of  a  proceeding  for  the 
evaluation  of  the  indemnity  for  damages  sustained  by  conces- 
sionaires of  state,  departmental,  or  communal  public  services, 
modifications  of  the  contract  and  of  the  conditions  imposed 
may  be  made,  on  the  initiative  of  the  authority  granting  the 
concession  or  of  the  concessionaires,  particularly  in  order  to 
improve  the  conditions  of  exploitation,  saving  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  concessionaires  in  case  such  modifications  in- 
crease the  obligations  of  the  original  concession.  In  default  of 
an  agreement  within  three  months  following  the  decision,  the 
authority  which  granted  the  concession  shall  have  an  unre- 
stricted right  of  repurchase. 

The  repurchase  shall  be  proceeded  with  under  the  conditions 
imposed  by  the  contract  if  such  repurchase  is  provided  for,  and, 
if  not,  upon  the  testimony  of  experts  based  in  every  case  upon 
the  results  of  exploitation  for  the  last  five  years  preceding  the 
year  1914.  The  authority  granting  the  concession  shall,  in  the 
event  of  repurchase,  be  subrogated  without  restriction  to  the 
concessionaire  in  all  the  rights  accorded  by  the  present  law. 

TITLE  IV.    PAYMENT 

Article  43.  When  a  final  decision  shall  have  been  made 
regarding  one  or  several  of  the  categories  of  damages  set  forth 
in  Article  2  or  on  account  of  the  damages  provided  for  by 
Article  15,  each  of  the  summaries  delivered  to  the  claimant  in 
accordance  with  Article  41  shall,  at  his  request,  be  exchanged 
within  two  months,  under  the  direction  of  the  Minister  of 
Finance,  for  a  bond  representing  the  total  amount  accorded  for 
the  .reparation  of  the  loss  sustained.    This  bond  shall  not  be 


324  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

negotiable  f;  it  may  be  made  the  subject  of  advances  under  con- 
ditions to  be  determined  by  orders  of  the  ministers  of  Finance 
and  of  the  Liberated  Regions;  it  may  also,  upon  the  authoriza- 
tion accompanied  by  a  statement  of  reasons  of  the  civil  tribunal 
given  en  banc  with  the  approval  of  the  associated  magistrates, 
be  assigned  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  articles  1,689 
and  following  of  the  civil  code,  or  pledged  in  accordance  with 
articles  2,071  and  following  of  the  same  code. 

The  claimant  who  shall  reemploy  [the  indemnity]  under  the 
conditions  and  according  to  the  forms  provided  for  by  articles  4 
and  5,  or  who  shall  subsequently  exercise  the  privilege  reserved 
to  him  by  Article  9,  shall  receive,  under  the  same  conditions,  a 
further  bond  indicating  the  amount  of  supplementary  expenses 
accorded  to  him. 

A  similar  additional  bond  shall  be  delivered  for  the  excess  of 
the  value  of  replacement  over  the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained 
in  the  case  of  the  movable  effects  provided  for  by  sections  1  to  4 
of  paragraph  4  of  Article  13.  In  the  case  of  the  movables 
covered  by  the  first  three  sections  of  the  said  paragraph,  the 
delivery  of  the  additional  bond  is  made  conditional  upon  the 
resumption  of  exploitation. 

The  amounts  representing  depreciation  through  age,  as  shown 
by  the  summary  of  the  final  decision,  shall  entitle  the  claimant 
to  a  special  instrument  (titre)  setting  forth  the  right  of  the 
claimant  to  the  advance  provided  for  by  paragraph  5  of  Article  5 
of  the  present  law. 

Within  two  months  a  special  bond  shall  be  delivered  in 
exchange  for  the  summary  of  the  final  decision  regarding  repa- 
ration, [to  the  amount  of]  the  capital  sum,  with  interest  at  five 
per  cent,  per  annum,  dating  from  the  time  when  the  damage, 
money  exactions,  fines,  and  war  contributions  imposed  by  the 
enemy  authorities  or  troops  took  place.  The  amounts  due  under 
this  head  shall,  upon  presentation  of  the  bond,  be  paid  to  the 
claimant  in  cash. 

Article  44.  If  the  claimant  shall  reemploy  [the  indemnity] 
in  the  case  either  of  immovable  property,  under  the  conditions 
provided  for  by  articles  4  and  5,  or  of  personal  effects,  or  if 
he  shall  enter  into  an  undertaking  before  the  cantonal  com- 
mission or  the  tribunal  of  war  damages  to  proceed  to  such  re- 

1  Modified  by  the  budget  law  of  July  31,  1920,  providing  for  the 
issuance  of  annuity  bonds  to  sinistres  or  groups  of  sinistres  whose 
indemnities  amounted  to  1,000,000  francs  or  over,  and  permitting 
euch  sinistres  to  pledge  the  bonds  as  collateral  for  loans. 


APPENDIX  B  325 

employment  or  such  reconstitution,  he  shall  be  entitled  without 
[further]  proof  [of  his  intention],  within  two  months  from  the 
delivery  of  the  bond,  to  a  first  installment  of  25  per  cent,  on 
the  amount  allowed  for  loss  sustained,  which  installment  shall 
not  be  less  than  3,000  francs  if  the  loss  sustained  equals  or 
exceeds  that  figure,  nor  more  than  100,000  francs,  unless  he  shall 
show  proof  before  the  tribunal  of  war  damages,  in  particular  by 
the  production  of  receipts,  accounts,  invoices,  bills  of  lading, 
or  accepted  orders  from  supply  houses,  of  [actual]  employment 
or  greater  immediate  needs. 

The  balance  of  the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained  shall  be  paid 
to  him  in  successive  installments  proportioned  to  proofs  [sub- 
mitted] of  work  done  or  purchases  made,  under  the  conditions 
set  forth  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  Each  payment  shall  be 
made  within  two  months  after  proof  [is  submitted]. 

When  the  payment  of  the  loss  sustained  shall  have  been  com- 
pleted, the  amount  of  the  supplementary  expenses  shall  be  paid 
under  the  same  conditions  upon  presentation  of  the  additional 
bond. 

The  same  procedure  shall  be  followed  in  the  case  of  the  excess 
of  the  value  of  replacement  over  the  amount  of  the  loss  sus- 
tained so  far  as  the  movable  property  covered  by  sections  1  to  4 
of  paragraph  4  of  Article  13  is  concerned. 

The  amounts  allowed  to  the  claimant  for  the  reparation  of 
damages  caused  to  the  movable  property  covered  by  paragraph  2 
of  Article  13  of  the  present  law  shall  be  paid  after  the  payment 
of  all  other  amounts  due  to  the  said  claimant,  whatever  they 
may  be. 

If  the  claimant,  after  devoting  to  the  reconstruction  of  build- 
ings or  the  reestablishment  of  an  enterprise  the  amount  of  the 
supplementary  expenses,  exercises  the  right  reserved  to  him  by 
paragraph  5  of  Article  5,  the  amount  representing  depreciation 
through  age  shall  be  paid  to  him  on  presentation  of  the  special 
bond  in  proportion  to  the  proofs  of  reemployment  submitted. 

Without  regard  to  the  application  of  the  foregoing  provisions 
and  before  any  evaluation  of  war  damages,  advances  for  the 
most  urgent  needs  may  be  accorded  to  sinistres  under  conditions 
which  shall  be  determined  jointly  by  the  Minister  of  the  Lib- 
erated Eegions  and  the  Minister  of  Finance. 

Article  45.  In  case  the  claimant  shall  be  entitled  only  to 
the  amount  of  the  loss  sustained,  if  he  shill  within  two  years 
make  declaration  before  the  cantonal  commission  or  before  the 
tribunal  of  war  damages  of  his  intention  to  devote  the  indem- 


326  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

nity  to  [the  restoration  of]  immovable  property  or  to  agricul- 
tural, industrial,  or  commercial  purposes,  or  to  the  exercise  of 
a  profession  anywhere  within  the  territory,  the  indemnity  rep- 
resenting the  loss  sustained  shall  also  be  paid  to  him  in  suc- 
cessive installments  in  accordance  with  proofs  submitted  of 
work  done  or  purchases  made. 

Article  46.  The  state  may  discharge  its  obligation,  with  the 
consent  of  the  claimants,  in  any  of  the  following  ways: 

In  the  case  of  immovable  property  [which  is  such]  by  nature, 
by  the  donation  of  other  immovable  property  of  the  same  kind 
and  the  same  value  situated  in  the  canton  in  which  the  damage 
was  done  or  in  other  cantons  of  the  liberated  regions  (cantons 
limitrophes) ; 

In  the  case  of  immovables  by  destination  and  of  movables  of 
industrial,  commercial,  agricultural,  professional  or  domestic 
character,  by  [the  donation  of]  similar  property  of  the  same 
value; 

In  the  case  of  other  movable  property  by  the  delivery  of  other 
movables  of  the  same  kind  or  the  same  value. 

The  state  may  also  discharge  its  obligation  in  whole  or  in 
part  by  carrying  out  at  its  own  expense  the  work  of  restoring 
movable  or  immovable  property  that  has  been  damaged  or  by 
furnishing  the  materials  for  such  restoration. 

It  shall  also  have  the  right  to  acquire  in  whole  or  in  part 
immovable  property  damaged  or  destroyed.  In  default  of  an 
amicable  agreement  the  price  shall  be  determined  according  to 
the  rules  laid  down  under  the  preceding  title  for  the  evaluation 
of  indemnity,  account  being  taken  of  the  value  of  the  soil, 
including  therein  all  of  the  elements  provided  for  in  case  of 
reemployment,  if  the  vendor  shall  take  the  engagement  regard- 
ing reemployment  set  forth  by  Article  5  of  the  present  law. 
Payment  shall  be  made  according  to  circumstances  in  the  way 
provided  for  by  articles  44  and  45. 

The  state  shall  have  the  right  to  acquire  immovable  property, 
following  an  attempt  at  agreement,  if  the  restoration  of  the 
soil  shall  exceed  the  value  of  the  land  as  diminished  for  purposes 
of  use,  account  being  taken,  if  necessary,  of  the  depreciation 
which  the  remainder  of  the  property  would  suffer  in  case  of 
partial  acquisition. 

The  state  shall  have  the  right,  in  all  cases  and  at  all  times, 
to  discharge  its  obligation  by  anticipation. 

If  the  claimant  is  indebted  to  the  state  on  any  account  what- 


APPENDIX  B  327 

ever,  even  in  the  payment  of  his  taxes,  the  amount  so  owed  by 
him  shall,  at  his  request,  be  credited  upon  the  amount  of  his 
indemnity,  and  shall  not  be  demandable  before  that  amount 
shall  have  been  determined. 

Article  47.  The  amounts  due  from  the  state  in  reparation 
of  loss  sustained,  with  the  exception  of  those  due  for  damages 
caused  to  pleasure  resorts  and  to  the  movable  property  referred 
to  in  paragraph  2  of  Article  13,  shall  bear  interest  from 
November  11,  1918,  at  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable  to  the 
claimant  quarterly  in  cash. 

In  all  cases  of  damages  caused  to  merchandise,  crops,  products, 
and  stocks  of  provisions,  and  to  raw  materials  which  shall  not 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  provisions  of  paragraph  4,  sections  1, 
2,  and  3,  of  Article  13,  the  interest  shall  begin  six  months  after 
the  date  of  the  damage. 

Article  48.  The  payment  of  indemnities,  interest,  and  ad- 
vances shall  be  made  directly  by  the  state  or  under  its  guaranty. 
In  case  the  state  shall  invite  the  cooperation  of  financial  estab- 
lishments, the  agreements  made  shall  be  submitted  for  ratifica- 
tion to  the  chambers. 

TITLE  V.    MISCELLANEOUS  PKOVISIONS 

[Article  49  relates  to  the  conditions  under  which  indemnity 
may  be  assigned,  including  assignments  to  building  and  loan 
associations  and  cooperative  societies.  A  law  of  October  23, 
1919,  extended  the  provisions  of  this  article  to  public  services 
and  societies  concerned  with  the  provision  of  low-priced  dwell- 
ings, and  authorized  the  acquisition  of  damaged  immovables 
with  a  view  to  providing  such  dwellings  in  the  liberated  regions. 
Article  50  authorizes  a  claimant  who,  before  the  adoption  of 
the  present  law,  had  sold  land  on  which  there  were  buildings 
to  recover  the  same  by  action  at  law.] 

Article  51.  The  tribunal  of  war  damages  shall  have  the 
right,  without  recourse  and  without  appeal,  of  its  own  motion 
and  notwithstanding  any  agreement  to  the  contrary,  to  reduce 
the  amounts  demanded  of  a  claimant  by  agents  or  architects 
(hommes  de  Part)  whom  he  may  have  employed  for  the  defense 
of  his  interests,  as  well  as  [the  amounts  demanded]  by  experts. 

The  reduction  shall  not  be  requested,  or  adjudged  by  the 
tribunal  of  its  own  motion,  later  than  two  years  from  the 
[date  of  the]  determination  of  the  indemnity. 


328  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  amounts  paid  may  be  recovered. 

[Articles  52  and  53  provide  for  forfeiture  of  the  right  to 
indemnity  in  the  case  of  persons  convicted  of  offenses  under 
military  laws,  French  subjects  who  deserted  during  the  war  or 
failed  to  serve  when  called,  and  claimants  who  use  their  in- 
demnities in  contravention  of  the  provisions  of  the  present  law. 
Article  54  prescribes  the  judicial  procedure  in  such  cases.] 

Article  55.  A  person  engaged  in  industry  or  commerce  who 
shall  have  restored  his  establishment,  wholly  or  partially,  under 
the  conditions  set  forth  under  Title  II  of  the  present  law  shall 
be  required,  within  fifteen  days  after  the  establishment  has 
resumed  operations,  to  give  notice  thereof  to  the  Minister  of 
Labor,  who  shall  deliver  to  him  a  receipt  and  take  all  appro- 
priate measures  to  bring  the  said  notice  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
workmen  or  employees  whom  the  person  engaged  in  industry 
or  commerce  [formerly]  employed.  During  the  month  follow- 
ing the  declaration  the  workmen  or  employees  shall  be  allowed 
to  resume  work  in  the  order  of  their  registration  and  to  the 
extent  of  the  needs  of  the  enterprise. 

Article  56.  A  right  of  priority  as  against  all  others  shall 
be  accorded  to  sinistres  in  the  acquisition  and  transport  of 
materials,  raw  materials,  and  necessary  supplies,  as  well  as  in 
obtaining  the  labor  needed  by  them  in  order  to  make  reemploy- 
ment [of  indemnities]  effectual.  This  right  of  priority  shall 
be  regulated  by  a  decree  to  be  issued  within  a  month  from  the 
promulgation  of  the  present  law. 

Article  57.  As  a  provisional  matter  the  decisions  already 
rendered  by  the  cantonal  commissions  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  articles  3  to  8  of  the  decree  of  July  20,  1915, 
and  by  the  departmental  commissions  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  titles  II  and  III  of  the  same  decree  shall,  upon 
the  request  either  of  the  prefect  or  of  claimants  or  their  legal 
representatives,  be  revised  and  completed  if  need  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  the  present  law.  They  may  in  any 
case  be  contested  before  the  tribunal  of  war  damages  within 
six  months  from  the  date  of  promulgation  of  the  present  law.1 
Article  58.  In  case  societies  shall  have  been  organized  for 
the  purpose  of  rebuilding  works  (etablissements)  or  destroyed 
buildings,  they  shall  receive,  in  the  event  of  non-reemployment 

1 A  law  of  November  26,  1920,  required  the  filing  before  December 
31,  1920,  of  the  requests  for  revision  referred  to  in  this  article. 


APPENDIX  B  329 

[of  an  indemnity]  by  a  member,  and  even  in  the  absence  of  an 
assignment  consented  to  by  him,  the  amount  of  the  supple- 
mentary expenses  in  lieu  of  the  common  fund  created  under 
paragraph  2  of  Article  7  of  the  present  law. 

Article  59.  The  expenses  of  remaking  the  cadastre,  of  sur- 
vey, and  if  necessary  of  reparcelment  [of  communes]  required 
by  the  events  of  the  war  shall  be  at  the  cost  of  the  state. 

Article  60.  The  expenses  of  removing  debris  (deblaiement) 
from  all  immovable  property  and  of  searching  for  and  removing 
unexploded  projectiles  shall  also  be  at  the  cost  of  the  state, 
which  may  undertake  this  work  of  its  own  motion,  by  agreement 
with  the  municipality,  without  the  authorization  of  the  owners 
[of  the  property].  The  state  shall  become  the  owner  of  the 
materials  [so  removed]. 

The  state  shall  be  responsible  for  accidents  due  to  the  explo- 
sion of  unexploded  projectiles. 

Article  61.  The  expense  of  preparing  plans  of  lines  and 
levels  for  public  ways  of  all  kinds,  which  may  require  to  be 
drawn  up  with  a  view  to  the  reconstruction  of  destroyed  build- 
ings in  communes  or  parts  of  communes  which  have  suf- 
fered from  the  events  of  the  war,  shall  be  at  the  cost  of  the 
state. 

Subventions  included  in  the  budget  of  the  ministry  charged 
with  the  reconstitution  of  the  liberated  regions  may  be  granted 
by  the  minister  to  communes  for  the  expenditures  required  for 
the  immediate  application  of  the  plans  of  lines  and  levels,  in 
the  case  of  ways  the  soil  of  which  belongs  to  them,  and  to 
departments  in  the  case  of  departmental  highways. 

These  subventions  shall  be  applicable  in  particular  to  the 
acquisition  of  vacant  land,  or  of  buildings  actually  ruined  or 
seriously  injured,  comprised  within  the  alignments.  The  price 
of  acquisition  of  such  lands  and  buildings  shall,  in  default  of 
amicable  agreement,  be  fixed  by  a  jury  composed  of  four  jurors 
under  the  conditions  prescribed  by  Article  16  of  the  law  of 
May  21,  1836,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  character  of  the 
public  way  in  which  the  said  lands  and  buildings  shall  be 
incorporated. 

The  interest  upon  the  said  subventions  shall  be  determined 
in  accordance  with  a  scale  to  be  fixed  by  a  decree  countersigned 
by  the  Minister  of  Finance  and  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated 
Regions. 

Article  62.    Expenditures  resulting  from  improvements  re- 


330  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

quired  by  public  hygiene  in  groups  of  buildings  under  the 
administrative  regulations  provided  for  by  Article  5  shall  be 
at  the  cost  of  the  state. 

Article  63.  The  amounts  which  are  still  owed  by  communes 
in  France  upon  loans  contracted  by  them  <  on  account  of  the 
events  of  former  wars  shall  be  assumed  by  the  .state  from  the 
date  of  promulgation  of  the  present  law. 

Article  64.  A  special  law  will  regulate  the  rights  and  obli- 
gations under  leases  in  the  case  of  immovable  property  which 
shall  have  suffered  by  the  events  of  war,  as  well  as  those  of 
fortified  places  or  localities  whose  inhabitants  have  been  evacu- 
ated by  military  order. 

Article  65.  A  special  law  will  regulate  the  conditions  under 
which  the  right  to  reparation  of  damages  occasioned  to  com- 
mercial capital  shall  be  accorded. 

Article  66.  A  special  law  will  determine  the  conditions 
under  which  the  right  to  reparation  shall  be  exercised  in  the 
case  of: 

1.  Damages  to  persons  resulting  from  the  events  of  the  war. 

2.  Damages  which  any  one  may  have  had  to  suffer  in  person 
or  property  in  consequence  of  accidents  which  shall  have  oc- 
curred : 

(a)  in  state  arsenals,  factories,  or  munitions  depots; 
(&)  in  private  factories  working  for  national  defense,  if 
reparation  cannot  be  had  by  recourse  to  general  law.  The 
state  shall  be  subrogated  to  the  rights,  actions,  and  privileges 
of  the  victim  of  the  damage  for  the  purpose  of  .recovering  the 
advances  which  it  shall  have  authorized  in  his  case  in  order 
to  meet  his  most  urgent  needs. 

Article  67.  During  the  three  years  which  shall  follow  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  the  inhabitants  of  the  .regions  which  have 
suffered  from  the  events  of  the  war  who  shall  provide,  in  their 
own  dwellings,  .rooms  capable  of  being  let  or  sublet  furnished  to 
transient  visitors  shall  be  entitled,  in  each  commune,  to  form  a 
syndicate  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  March  21,  1884. 

The  lodgings  offered  shall  conform  to  the  conditions  pre- 
scribed by  the  departmental  commission  of  hygiene  and  shall 
be  subject  to  its  control. 

A  list  of  these  lodgings  with  the  scale  of  prices,  approved  by 
the  National  Touring  Bureau,  shall  be  placed  at  the  disposition 
of  all  inquirers  at  the  mairie. 

Article  68.     The  present  law  shall  apply  to  the  colonies  and 


APPENDIX  B  331 

protectorates.  An  administrative  regulation  shall  determine 
the  conditions  of  its  application. 

The  indemnities  accorded  in  reparation  of  damages  caused  by 
the  events  of  war  in  the  colonies  shall  be  carried  by  the  credits 
opened  in  the  general  budget  of  the  state. 

[Article  69  amends  the  law  of  July  5,  1917,  as  to  proof  of  the 
condition  of  places  in  regard  to  which  claims  for  war  damages 
may  be  asserted.  Article  70  repeals  the  decrees  of  February  4, 
1915,  as  modified  by  the  decrees  of  April  7  and  8,  1915;  the 
decrees  of  March  24,  1915,  as  modified  by  the  decree  of  April  22, 
1915 ;  the  decree  of  July  20,  1915,  and  all  other  provisions  con- 
trary to  the  present  law.] 


APPENDIX  C 

Law  of  the   Cooperative  Reconstruction   Societies1 

August  15,  1920 

Law  fixing  the  legal  status  of  cooperative  reconstruction  soci- 
eties formed  by  sinistres  for  the  re  constitution  of  immovable 
property  which  has  suffered  by  the  events  of  the  war. 

TITLE  I.    GENERAL  PROVISIONS 

Article  1.  Cooperative  reconstruction  societies  may  be 
formed  by  persons  entitled  to  indemnity  in  reparation  of  dam- 
ages to  immovable  property,  or  by  persons  having  an  interest 
therein,  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  April  17,  1919. 

These  societies  shall  have  for  their  object  the  carrying  on, 
on  behalf  of  their  members,  of  all  the  operations  relating  to  the 
reconstitution  of  immovable  property,  in  particular  the  prepa- 
ration of  papers  (dossiers),  the  evaluation  of  damages,  the 
execution,  supervision,  and  payment  of  work  of  repair  or 
reconstitution,  and  the  reemployment  of  advances  and  partial 
payments  provided  for  by  the  law  above  referred  to. 

They  shall  enjoy  the  status  of  civil  persons. 

Article  2.  The  duration  of  the  society  shall  be  determined 
by  the  accomplishment  of  the  object  for  which  it  shall  have 
been  formed. 

The  society  shall  not  be  dissolved  before  the  expiration  of  its 
term  except  through  a  vote  of  the  general  assembly  represmting 
the  majority  both  in  members  and  in  amounts  [of  indemnity 
involved],  or  by  a  judicial  decision  for  grave  causes  duly  proved. 

The  life  of  the  society  shall  not  terminate  with  the  death, 
failure,  judicial  liquidation,  bankruptcy,  or  acts  of  any  of  its 
members;  in  these  various  cases,  as  in  the  case  of  assignment, 
it  shall  continue  under  the  heirs  or  legal  claimants. 

1  Bulletin  des  Lois,  Nouvelle  Serie,  No.  279,  pp.  3950-3955. 

332 


APPENDIX  C  333 

Article  3.  The  general  assembly  of  the  members  shall  have 
full  authority  to  act  regarding  the  statutes  and  all  other  affairs 
of  the  society.  It  shall  comprise  two-thirds  of  the  members 
representing  one-half  of  the  total  amount  of  the  indemnities 
administered  by  the  society. 

If  the  first  assembly  shall  not  fulfill  the  conditions  above 
prescribed,  a  new  assembly  shall  be  convoked.  Its  decisions 
shall  be  final  provided  it  shall  include  at  least  one-half  of  the 
members  representing  one-third  of  the  total  amount  of  the 
indemnities. 

If  these  conditions  shall  still  not  be  fulfilled,  a  third  assem- 
bly shall  be  convoked,  and  its  action  shall  be  valid  whatever  the 
number  of  members  present  and  whatever  the  total  amount  of 
the  indemnities  represented. 

Decisions  shall  always  be  taken  by  an  absolute  majority  of 
the  members  present  or  represented. 

The  assembly  shall  choose  an  administrative  council  taken 
from  the  members  of  the  society.  Those  who  have  made  con- 
tracts with  the  society  for  the  performance  of  work  or  the  sale 
of  supplies  shall  be  ineligible. 

The  administrative  council  shall  act  in  general  on  behalf  of 
its  members  as  their  agent  in  relation  to  the  state  and  its  agents, 
and  shall  administer  their  interests  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  present  law. 

It  shall  in  particular  make  all  contracts  and  purchases  in 
their  name,  and  shall  cause  to  be  executed  the  work  of  repairing 
or  reconstituting  their  immovable  property  in  accordance  with 
plans  and  specifications  accepted  by  them. 

It  shall  be  the  legal  representative  of  the  society  in  judicial 
proceedings. 

The  council  may  delegate  all  or  a  part  of  its  powers  to  one 
of  its  members,  and  may  on  its  own  responsibility  devolve  upon 
a  director  or  superintendent  the  execution  and  supervision  of 
the  operations  of  the  society. 

Article  4.  The  resources  appropriate  to  the  society  shall 
comprise : 

1.  Payments  made  by  the  members  as  their  proportionate 
part  of  a  general  fund  to  be  used  in  meeting  the  charges  and 
expenses  of  the  society. 

2.  Subventions  and  advances,  if  such  there  be,  accorded  by 
the  state. 

3.  Contributions,  gifts,  or  legacies  made  to  the  society. 


334  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

The  expenses  of  the  society  shall  comprise  the  charges  and 
expenditures  necessary  for  its  operation. 

Article  5.  Payments  made  by  the  state  to  the  society  for 
the  account  of  its  members  shall  be  made  by  means  of  credits 
established  in  its  name  at  the  offices  of  the  disbursing  agents 
of  the  treasury  or  at  establishments  designated  for  that  purpose. 

Individual  accounts,  distinct  from  those  of  the  society,  shall 
be  opened  on  the  books  of  the  agency  with  each  member,  which 
accounts  shall  show,  first,  the  amounts  which  the  society  has 
received  on  his  account  and  which  are  required  to  be  devoted 
strictly  to  the  reparation  or  reconstitution  of  immovable 
property  under  the  conditions  of  reemployment  prescribed  by 
the  law  of  April  17,  1919 ;  and,  second,  the  amounts  owed  by  the 
society  or  paid  on  its  account. 

Article  6.  The  administrators  shall  be  responsible  to  the 
society  and  to  third  parties  for  violations  of  the  provisions  of 
the  present  law  and  for  serious  mistakes  which  they  may  have 
made  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions. 

Article  7.  The  members  of  the  society  shall  be  responsible 
for  the  debts  and  obligations  of  the  society  to  the  extent  pro- 
vided for  by  Article  4  of  the  present  law  and  in  proportion  to 
their  interests. 

They  shall  not  be  allowed  to  withdraw  from  the  society  before 
the  determination  of  their  indemnities  by  the  commissions  and 
[other]  competent  bodies,  nor,  in  case  they  have  elected  to 
reemploy  [their  indemnities],  before  the  completion  of  the  work 
of  reconstituting  their  immovable  property  and  the  subsequent 
settlement  of  their  individual  accounts. 

Article  8.  Within  a  month  from  the  time  when  a  coopera- 
tive society  or  union  of  cooperative  societies  shall  have  been 
formed  a  duplicate  of  the  act  of  organization,  if  executed  under 
private  seal,  or  an  attested  copy  if  executed  by  a  notary,  shall 
be  filed  with  the  clerk  of  the  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  canton 
and  at  the  prefecture  of  the  department. 

Within  the  same  period  a  summary  of  the  act  of  organization 
shall  be  published  in  one  of  the  newspapers  of  the  arrondisse- 
ment  of  the  same  department  designated  for  the  reception  of 
legal  notices. 

The  formalities  above  prescribed  shall  be  observed  by  the 
society  under  penalty  of  nullity. 

Article  9.  The  order  in  which  work  relative  to  immovable 
property  which  is  to  be  repaired  or  reconstructed  shall  be  per- 


APPENDIX  C  335 

formed  shall  be  determined  under  conditions  prescribed  by  the 
statutes  [of  the  society] . 

[Article  10  exempts  from  registration  and  stamping  the  acts 
relating  to  the  organization,  etc.,  of  a  society  and  all  other 
action  taken  in  fulfillment  of  its  purposes.] 

Article  11.  Cooperative  reconstruction  societies  formed  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  present  law  shall  be 
allowed  to  form  unions,  under  the  same  conditions,  for  the 
purpose  of  entering  into  contracts,  making  joint  purchases, 
centralizing  operations  of  accounting,  and  aiding  one  another 
in  the  administration  of  their  common  interests. 

Article  12.  In  addition  to  the  conditions  prescribed  by  the 
present  law,  cooperative  reconstruction  societies  or  unions  of 
the  same  shall  be  subject  to  the  general  principles  of  law 
applicable  to  contracts  and  obligations. 

TITLE  II.  SPECIAL  PROVISIONS  RELATING  TO 
COOPERATIVE  SOCIETIES  AND  UNIONS  OF  CO- 
OPERATIVE SOCIETIES  APPROVED  BY  THE 
STATE 

Article  13.  Such  cooperative  societies  only  as  shall  have 
received  the  approval  of  the  state  shall  be  allowed  to  benefit  by 
the  pecuniary  advantages  stipulated  by  the  present  law. 

Article  14.     The  conditions  of  approval  shall  be  as  follows: 

1.  The  statutes  shall  be  framed  in  conformity  with  the  essen- 
tial provisions  contained  in  the  typical  statutes  drawn  up  by 
the  Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Regions. 

2.  The  choice  of  architects,  contractors,  and  experts  (homines 
de  I'art)  intrusted  by  the  society  with  the  preparation  of  plans 
or  the  superintendence,  execution,  and  direction  of  work  shall 
be  made  from  a  list  prepared  for  each  department  with  the 
cooperation  of  the  approved  societies  and  under  conditions  to 
be  fixed  by  decree. 

3.  The  society  shall  be  required  to  have  a  system  of  account- 
ing and  shall  be  subject  to  financial  control  by  the  state. 

4.  It  shall  be  composed  of  the  sinistres  or  their  representa- 
tives of  one  or  several  communes.  Not  more  than  one  coopera- 
tive society,  however,  shall  be  allowed  in  the  same  commune 
unless  the  amount  of  damages  occasioned  to  the  immovable 
property  of  the  members,  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  loss 
sustained,  shall  equal  at  least  one  million  francs. 


336  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FRANCE 

Article  15.  The  [fulfillment  of]  the  conditions  of  approval 
shall  be  verified  by  a  special  committee  presided  over  by  the 
prefect,  which  shall  decide  within  fifteen  days  in  regard  to  the 
filing  of  the  request  [for  approval]. 

A  .refusal  of  approval  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  statement 
of  the  reasons  therefor.  The  decision  rendered  shall  be  subject 
to  appeal  to  a  special  committee,  sitting  at  Paris  and  presided 
over  by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions,  which  shall  give 
its  decision  within  one  month. 

One-third  of  the  members  of  these  committees,  which  shall 
be  appointed  under  the  conditions  set  forth  in  Article  22  of 
the  present  law,  shall  be  members  of  cooperative  societies. 

Article  16.  Approval  may  be  withdrawn  by  the  minister,  on 
the  advice  of  the  central  committee,  in  case  of  failure  to  observe 
the  requirements  laid  down  by  the  present  law  or  of  grave 
mistakes  committed  by  the  administrators,  the  right  being 
reserved  to  the  society  to  appeal  to  the  Council  of  State. 

Article  17.  For  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  operations 
of  the  general  services  of  approved  cooperative  societies,  sub- 
ventions shall  be  granted  to  them  by  the  state  in  accordance 
with  a  scale  annexed  to  the  present  law,  [such  subventions  to 
be  included]  in  the  credits  carried  by  the  budget  of  the  Min- 
istry of  the  Liberated  Regions. 

Article  18.  In  addition  to  the  individual  advances  and  par- 
tial payments  provided  for  by  the  law  of  April  17,  1919,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  constitution  of  a  general  fund 
for  approved  cooperative  societies,  advances  to  be  repaid  may 
be  made  to  them  by  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  with' 
the  approval  of  the  Minister  of  Finance. 

Article  19.  The  state  shall  have  the  right  to  make  con- 
tracts mutually  satisfactory  with  cooperative  reconstruction 
societies  for  the  execution  of  the  work  of  clearing  away  debris, 
whatever  the  importance  of  such  work  may  be. 

Article  20.  The  following  may  become  members  of  ap- 
proved cooperative  societies  and  may  take  part  in  their  opera- 
tions on  the  same  basis  as  other  members: 

1.  Departments,  communes,  and  public  enterprises,  under 
conditions  to  be  determined  by  a  decree  issued  by  the  Minister 
of  the  Liberated  Regions  with  the  approval  of  the  ministers  of 
the  Interior  and  of  Finance. 

2.  Incompetent  persons  duly  authorized. 

Article  21.     Societies  or  unions  of  societies  already  formed, 


APPENDIX  C  337 

whatever  the  nature  of  their  organization,  for  the  purpose  of 
repairing  or  reconstructing  immovable  property  which  has  been 
destroyed  or  injured  by  the  events  of  war,  societies  for  pro- 
viding low-priced  houses,  and  societies  which  make  loans  on 
immovable  property  may,  if  approved  by  administrative  order, 
obtain  the  approval  of  the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Kegions 
in  the  way  prescribed  by  articles  13  and  following  of  the 
present  law. 

Article  22.  Within  one  month  from  the  date  of  promul- 
gation of  the  present  law  a  decree,  issued  at  the  instance  of 
the  Minister  of  the  Liberated  Regions  and  countersigned  by 
the  Minister  of  Finance,  shall  determine  the  method  of  accord- 
ing subventions  and  advances,  the  form  of  accounting,  the 
composition  of  the  departmental  committees  and  of  the  central 
committee,  the  procedure  for  the  establishment  of  lists  of 
architects,  contractors,  and  experts  and,  in  general,  all  measures 
having  to  do  with  the  application  of  the  present  law. 

Article  23.  The  present  law  shall  apply  to  the  departments 
of  the  Haut-Rhin,  Bas-Rhin,  and  Moselle  as  well  as  to  the 
other  French  departments. 


APPENDIX  D 

The  figures  of  population  under  the  census  of  March,  1921, 
made  public  on  December  30,  are  given  in  the  following 
tables,  the  corresponding  figures  for  1911  being  added  for  pur- 
poses of  comparison. 

I.     Departments 


1921 

1911 

Gain 

Loss 

Aisne    

421,515 

530,226 

108,711 

Ardennes    

277,811 

318,896 

41,085 

Belfort   

94,338 

101,386 

7,048 

Marne 

366,734 

436,310 

69,576 

Meurthe-et- 
Moselle 

503,810 

564,730 

60,920 

Meuse 

207,309 

277,955 

70,646 

Nord 

1,787,918 

1,961,780 

173,862 

Oise    

387,760 

411,028 

23,268 

Pas-de-Calais. . 

989,967 

1,068,185 

78,218 

Seine-et-Marne. 

349,234 

363,561 

14,327 

Somme 

452,624 

520,161 

67,537 

Vosges    

383,684 

433,914 

50,230 

Total 

6,222,704 

6,988,132 

765,428 

338 


APPENDIX  D 

II.    Cities  of  over  30,000 


339 


1921 

1911 

Gain 

Loss 

Amiens    

92,780 

93,207 

427 

Belfort   

39,301 

39,371 

70 

Chalons-sur- 
Marne 

31,194 

31,367 

173 

Douai   

34,803 

36,314 

1,511 

Lille    , 

200,952 

217,807 

16,855 

Nancy 

113,226 

119,949 

6,723 

Reims  

76,645 

115,178 

38,533 

Roubaix   

113,265 

122,723 

9,458 

St.  Quentin 

37,345 

55,571 

18,226 

Tourcoing   

78,600 

82,644 

4,044 

Valenciennes  . . . 

34,425 

34,766 

341 

INDEX 


Administrative  questions  in- 
volved in  reconstruction,  39. 

Advances,  classes  of,  174-177;  to 
cooperative  societies,  213-214. 
See  also  Credits  and  Revolving 
funds. 

Agache,  A.  R.,  269. 

Agricultural  Academy  of  France, 
162. 

Agricultural  machinery,  154-155, 
160-161;   products,  see  Crops. 

Agriculture,  chief  industry  of 
devastated  areas,  10-11;  re- 
vival of,  41,  153-171;  relation 
of,  to  industry,  133,  296. 

Aisne  (Department  of),  devasta- 
tion of,  36;  resuming  industry 
in,  137-139;  cattle  placed  in, 
158-159;  restoration  of  soil  in, 
162;  crops  in  1920-21,  199-200; 
cooperative  societies  in,  215, 
219;  monuments  destroyed  in, 
224;  medical  relief  stations  in, 
258;  children  from,  given  holi- 
day, 259-260;  model  village  in, 
272;  school  buildings  given  to 
Chassemy  in,  284;  work  in,  of 
American  Committee  for  Dev- 
astated France,  285-286,  290. 

Albert,  town  of,  destroyed,  26; 
reconstruction   delayed,   201. 

Algiers,  war  damages  in,  70,  126. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  5,  9,  18,  100, 
102;  industrial  resources  of, 
132,  187;  machinery  made  in, 
140;  iron  mines  in,  141,  149- 
151 ;  foreigners  in,  entitled  to 
war  indemnities,  238;  children 
entertained  in,  259-260. 

American,  Civil  War,  5,  40;  com- 
mittee for  devastated  France, 
285-291 ;    forestry    association, 


169;  methods,  of  social  settle- 
ment work,  285,  and  of  pre- 
serving food,  289;  payment  of 
claims,  242 ;  Women's  Hospital, 
286. 

Amiens,  city  of,  7,  10;  history, 
19;  injuries,  25;  railway  shops, 
108;  new  houses,  117;  resuming 
industry,  137;  cathedral,  225- 
226. 

Angelus  fund,  for  church  bells, 
289. 

Anglo-American  Friends'  Mis- 
sion, 282,  291. 

Aniche  Coal  Company,  148-149. 

Ardennes  (Department  of),  dev- 
astation of,  37;  resuming  in- 
dustry in,  137-139;  cattle  re- 
placed in,  158-159;  restoration 
of  soil  in,  162;  cooperative 
societies  in,  215;  monuments 
destroyed  in,  225;  medical  re- 
lief stations  in,  258. 

Armistice,  of  November  11,  1918, 
4,  23,  69. 

Arras,  town  of,  7,  8,  10;  history, 
19;  war  injuries,  25;  new 
houses,  117;  resuming  industry, 
137;  ruins  long  unrelieved,  201; 
monuments  destroyed,  225 ; 
contribution  from  Newcastle, 
281. 

Artistic  interest,  of  devastated 
areas,  19-20;  of  monuments, 
223-236. 

Athletics,  introduced  by  Amer- 
icans, 289. 

Aube  (Department  of),  2-3,  6. 

Auburtin,  J.  M.,  269. 

Banks,  share  of,  in  reconstruc- 
tion, 139. 


341 


342 


INDEX 


Bas-Rhin,  new  department  of, 
211,  213. 

Belfort,  territory  of,  2-3. 

Belgium,  agreement  with,  238; 
claims  against,  left  for  adjust- 
ment, 243;  skilled  workmen 
from,  245. 

Bethune,  town  of,  destroyed,  26; 
mines  near,  142-144,  148;  re- 
construction delayed,  201;  co- 
operative union  in,  219. 

Bridges  and  viaducts,  destroyed, 
108-109;  restored,  112,  119. 

British  Claims  Commission,  241- 
242 ;  government  and  the  Wies- 
baden agreement,  254;  League 
of  Help,  281-282,  291. 

Budget  commission,  quoted,  179, 
181;  estimates  of,  182;  program 
of,  for  1921,  191-192;  criticism 
of  government  by,  194-197; 
sanitary  regulations  questioned 
by,  265-266. 

Buhl,  Frank  H.,  legacy  of, 
284. 

Buildings,  destroyed,  24,  165; 
farm,  167;  industrial,  138,  140; 
funds  for  reconstruction  of, 
174,  181.  See  also  Churches, 
Houses,  Public  buildings,  and 
Monuments. 

Bulletin  of  the  Liberated  Re- 
gions, 214,  263. 

Caldwell,  M.  R.  J.,  285. 

Calmette,  Dr.,  commissioner  on 
public  health,  258. 

Camiers,  sanitary  camp  at,  259. 

Canals,  part  of  transport  system, 
14;  injured,  28,  120;  restored, 
102,  120-121. 

Cantonal  commissions  on  indem- 
nities, 85,  87,  89-92,  124,  165, 
170,  175-176,  192,  229,  243; 
number  of,  197;  dilatory  meth- 
ods of,  201,  204-205;  probable 
duration  of,  222. 

Catholic  Church,  slow  in  restor- 
ing properties,  235-236. 

Cattle,  see  Farm  animals. 

Censorship,  military,  33, 


Central  Purchasing  Agency,  127- 
129;  advance  to,  176;  closing 
up  its  affairs,  201;  office  of,  at 
Wiesbaden,  244. 

Chambers  of  commerce,  share  of, 
in  reconstruction,  139. 

Champagne,  ancient  province  of, 
15-17. 

Chassemy,  cooperative  society  in, 
218,  221. 

Children,  cared  for,  259-260,  290; 
hospital  for,  281;  vacation 
camp,  284.    See  Schools. 

China,  laborers  from,  245. 

Church,  relation  of  with  state, 
in  care  of  monuments,  223;  in 
restoring  monuments,  230,  235. 

Churches  and  cathedrals,  de- 
stroyed, 224-225;  moral  and 
spiritual  effect  of  loss  of,  236; 
furnishings  of,  267;  bells  of, 
replaced,  289;  restoration  of, 
slow,  293. 

Circulars,  issued  by  Ministry  of 
the  Liberated  Regions,  79,  165, 
170,  203,  209,  233,  258,  266-267, 
271. 

Coal,  brought  from  Germany, 
238-239;  mining  companies,  13, 
126,  141.    See  also  Mines. 

Coefficients  for  computing  in- 
demnities, 87-88;  reduced,  163; 
varying,  181;  too  low,  194; 
question  of,  complex,  202-204. 

Colonies,  law  of  war  damages 
applicable  to,  100. 

Communes,  administration  of, 
20;  syndicates  of,  for  recon- 
struction, 90;  adoption  of  dev- 
astated, 279-282. 

Community,  interests,  257-274 ; 
center  in  foyers,  277 ;  American 
influence  on,  289. 

Comtesse  de  Buyer,  283. 

Cooperative  societies,  agricul- 
tural, 156,  189-190,  206. 

Cooperative  societies  for  recon- 
struction, 190-191,  194-195,  204, 
206-222;  origin  of,  207;  supplies 
turned  over  to,  201 ;  recognized 
by   law,   208-210;    control    of, 


INDEX 


343 


210;  conditions  of  approval  of, 
212;  object  defined,  212-213; 
achievements  of,  220;  probable 
duration  of,  221-222;  loans  to, 
by  American  Committee,  287; 
law  on,  quoted  in  full,  332- 
337. 

Cooperative  spirit,  rare  before 
the  war,  206;  development  of, 
207,  288-291. 

Coucy-le-  Chateau,  cooperative 
society  in,  218-219. 

Credit  National,  became  finan- 
cial agent  of  state,  177;  issued 
securities,  177;  accounts  of, 
with  cooperative  societies,  211, 
213. 

Credits,  voted  by  Parliament,  41 ; 
extended  to  farmers,  155-156, 
163,  174;  to  industry,  124,  131, 
173;  voted  for  1921,  184; 
opened  with  Ministry  of  the 
Interior,  42,  173;  for  preserva- 
tion and  restoration  of  monu- 
ments, 233. 

Criticism,  of  government,  188- 
205;  of  reconstruction,  292- 
293. 

Cromwell,  William  Nelson,  284. 

Crops,  prevailing,  of  devastated 
area,  11,  12;  loss  of,  41,  72; 
taken  by  Germans,  153;  pre- 
miums paid  for,  163;  in  1920 
compared  with  1914,  199-200. 

Denmark,  contributions  from, 
281. 

Department,  administration  of  a, 
20. 

Devastated  area,  limits  of,  de- 
fined, 1,  3-4;  total  population 
of,  9-10;  history  of,  14-19; 
artistic  interest  of,  19-20;  de- 
struction wrought  in,  5-6,  8,  15, 
22-38,  292. 

Doubs,  department  of,  2. 

Doumer,  M.  Paul,  Minister  of 
Finance,  186. 

Doumergue,  Gaston,  Minister  of 
the  Colonies,  64. 

Duchene,  A.,  270. 


Economic  council,  80-81. 

Eight-hour  law,  effect  of,  on  min- 
ing industry,  147,  266;  applica- 
tion of,  in  devastated  area,  266- 
267. 

Employers'  syndicates,  207. 

Est  railway  system,  102,  105-111; 
rebuilding  of,  114-115;  handling 
of  troops  by,  105-106;  policy 
of,  in  reconstruction,  115. 

Evaluation,  see  War  damages. 

Eymond,  Edouard,  report  of,  69. 

Farm  animals,  losses  of,  31,  44; 
restoring,  153,  155,  158-160,  164- 
165 ;  brought  from  abroad,  237 ; 
supplied  by  American  Com- 
mittee, 287. 

Farmer,  attachment  of,  to  land, 
12,  133,  297;  individualism  of, 
153,  198,  206. 

Farms,  size  of,  11-12;  war  dam- 
ages as  applied  to,  164,  197; 
fewer,  since  reconstruction,  297. 

Financial  questions  involved  in 
reconstruction,  39,  122, 139,  146- 
147,  172-187,  271-272;  aid  by  in- 
dividuals and  societies,  278-291. 

Fishing  vessels,  indemnity  for, 
71,  307-308. 

Ford,  George  B.,  American  archi- 
tect, 272. 

Forests,  damage  to,  30,  73,  169, 
170;  restoration  of,  168-171, 
293. 

Foyer  des  Campagnes  (Le),  276, 
291. 

Foyers,  built  by  Foyer  des  Com- 
pagnes,  277 ;  built  by  American 
Committee  for  Devastated 
France,  288. 

Franco-Prussian  war,  compared 
with  invasion  of  1914-18,  4; 
results  of,  18,  61. 

French  Academy,  represented  on 
commission  for  restoration  of 
monuments,  228. 

French  Regional  Association, 
resolutions  passed  by,  231-232. 

French  Restoration  Fund,  284- 
285. 


344 


INDEX 


Friends,  British  and  American 
Societies  of,  282,  291. 

General  Labor  Confederation, 
251. 

German  advance,  2,  33;  indus- 
trial reconstruction,  244;  pro- 
posal for  reconstruction,  247- 
251. 

Godin,  A.,  269. 

Government,  aid  of,  in  recon- 
struction, 116,  122-123,  140,  146, 
172,  272;  criticism  of,  84,  188- 
205,  294-295;  relief  societies 
regulated  by,  276. 

Haute-Marne,  department  of,  2. 

Haute-Saone,  department  of,  2. 

Haut-Rhin,  new  department  of, 
211. 

Highways,  part  of  transport  sys- 
tem, 14;  injured,  28;  restored, 
102,  121. 

Health,  public,  257.  See  Hos- 
pitals, Medical,  and  Sanitation. 

Historic  buildings,  see  Monu- 
ments; interest  of  devastated 
areas,  14-19. 

Holland,  gift  of  buildings  from, 
281. 

Hospitals,  needing  repair,  258; 
established,  282,  286,  288. 

Houses,  temporary,  46,  94-97,  191- 
192,  195;  workingmen's,  130, 
181,  273-274;  funds  for  restora- 
tion of,  174;  to  be  made  in 
Germany,  252. 

Housing,  96-99;  not  given  enough 
importance,  131;  policy  con- 
demned by  budget  commission, 
191-193;  problem  growing  more 
serious,  294. 

Hundred  Years'  war,  effect  of,  16. 

Indemnities,  reemployment  of, 
65-70;  fixed  by  law  of  1919,  70- 
75.    See  War  damages. 

Individualism,  of  farmers,  153, 
206 ;  a  hindrance  to  reconstruc- 
tion, 291. 

Industrial     establishments,     de- 


stroyed during  war,  26;  recon- 
struction of,  98,  134-138;  em- 
ployees in,  135. 

Industrial  reconstruction,  office 
of,  82,  123-127;  materials  for, 
127-129,  243;  relation  of,  to 
agriculture,  132-133,  196;  min- 
istry of,  see  Ministry. 

Industry,  prostration  of,  planned 
by  Germans,  5 ;  extent  of,  in 
1914,  14;  reconstruction  of, 
122-140;  need  for  better  or- 
ganization of,  140;  held  off 
from  cooperative  societies,  207- 
208;  expansion  of,  since  war, 
296. 

Inheritance,   French  law   of,   12. 

International  aspects  of  recon- 
struction, 237-256,  295. 

Iron  mines,  location  of,  141,  149- 
151;  output  of,  150-152;  dam- 
aged, 150-151;  restored,  151- 
152. 

Italy,  claims  against,  243;  la- 
borers from,  245,  256;  labor 
convention  with,  247. 

Law,  for  eight-hour  day,  147,  266- 
267;  on  town  planning,  299- 
307;  on  war  damages,  307-332; 
on  cooperative  reconstruction 
societies,  333-338. 

Legal  questions  involved  in  re- 
construction, 39. 

Lens,  town  of,  8,  10;  desolated 
by  war,  25-26,  201;  railway 
shops  at,  108;  new  nouses  at, 
117,  146;  mines  near,  141-144, 
146,  148;  houses  in,  built  by 
Dutch,  281. 

Le  Brun,  M.  A.,  Minister  of  the 
Liberated  Regions,  79. 

Libraries,  given  to  schools,  284. 

Lille,  town  of,  workingmen's 
houses  at,  117,  273;  town  plan 
adopted  by,  272;  children's  va- 
cation camp  at,  284. 

Lorraine,  see  Alsace-Lorraine. 

Loucheur,  M.  Louis,  Minister  of 
the  Liberated  Regions,  address 
by,    89;    approved    municipal 


INDEX 


345 


loans,  186;  speech  in  Septem- 
ber, 1921,  222;  circular  by,  233; 
at  conferences  on  German 
share  in  reconstruction,  252; 
announced  plans,  255. 

Machinery,  see  Agricultural. 

Malvy,  L.,  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior, 64. 

Marne,  battle  of,  7,  40,  109. 

Marne  (Department  of),  2;  dev- 
astation of,  36;  resuming  in- 
dustry in,  137-139;  cattle  placed 
in,  158-159;  restoration  of  soil 
in,  163;  beet  crop  in,  200; 
cooperative  societies  in,  214; 
monuments  destroyed  in,  224; 
medical  relief  stations  in,  258; 
children  from,  given  holiday, 
259-260;  children's  hospital  in, 
281. 

Marret,  M.  Georges,  217. 

Medical  service,  257-258,  288-289; 
relief  stations,  258-259. 

Meurthe-et-Moselle  (Department 
of),  2,  13;  devastation  of,  37; 
houses  offered  for  sale  in,  95; 
industry  resumed  in,  137;  iron 
mines  in,  149;  cattle  placed  in, 
158-159;  monuments  destroyed 
in,  225;  medical  relief  stations 
in,  258;  village  in,  rebuilt  by 
Americans,  283. 

Meuse  (Department  of),  2;  dev- 
astation of,  37;  cattle  placed 
in,  158-9;  restoration  of,  162; 
cooperative  societies  in,  215; 
monuments  destroyed  in,  225; 
medical  relief  stations  in,  258; 
water  supply  and  community 
house  given  to  village  in,  284. 

Military  control  supreme,  32; 
occupancy  of  buildings,  31; 
control  of  railways,  102-103. 

Mines,  coal,  13,  141;  iron,  13, 
149 ;  destruction  of,  during  war, 
26;  commission  to  value,  73; 
restoration  of,  141-152;  pre-war 
production  of,  not  restored, 
293;  plans  for  new  develop- 
ment of,  296. 


Minister  of  Colonies,  64. 

Ministry  of  Agriculture,  helped 
farmers,  46;  supplied  tractors, 
293;  plans  for  new  develop- 
ment of,  296. 

Ministry  of  Commerce  and  In- 
dustry, 46. 

Ministry  of  Finance,  involved  in 
certain  provisions  of  indem- 
nity laws,  78;  empowered  to 
grant  advances,  176;  opposed 
municipal  loans,  186;  repre- 
sented on  commission  for  res- 
toration of  monuments,  228; 
financial  provisions  of  treaty 
of  peace  in  the  hands  of,  244- 
245. 

Ministry  of  Industrial  Recon- 
struction, relation  of  to  law 
of  1919,  78;  relation  to  office 
of  industrial  reconstruction,  82 ; 
bureau  of,  handled  German 
coal,  238. 

Ministry  of  the  Interior,  caring 
for  refugees,  46 ;  credit  funds  in 
hands  of,  173;  represented  on 
commission  for  restoration  of 
monuments,  228;  circular  of, 
on  public  health,  257-258 ;  com- 
mission of,  on  town  planning 
law,  270-271,  302-303. 

Ministry  of  Justice,  duties  of,  in 
connection  with  indemnity  law, 
78. 

Ministry  of  Labor,  46;  repre- 
sented on  commission  for  res- 
toration of  monuments,  228; 
applications  for  foreign  labor 
addressed  to,  245. 

Ministry  of  the  Liberated  Re- 
gions, order  of,  defining  devas- 
tated areas,  1,  3;  circulars 
issued  by,  79,  165,  170,  203,  209, 
233,  258,  266,  271;  reorganiza- 
tion of,  79-83;  activity  of,  85; 
policy  of,  in  evaluating  dam- 
ages, 164-165;  favored  munici- 
pal loans,  186 ;  fixed  budget  for, 
proposed,  195-196 ;  criticized  by 
cooperative  societies,  217;  re- 
sponsible for  reconstruction  of 


346 


INDEX 


civil  and  religious  buildings, 
not  monuments,  227 ;  furnished 
clothing  to  refugees,  258-259; 
appointed  women  inspectors, 
260;  opened  canteens,  261; 
established  laboratories  for 
water  analysis,  263;  supported 
community  centers,  277-278. 

Ministry  of  Public  Instruction 
and  Fine  Arts,  care  and  restora- 
tion of  historic  buildings  in 
hands  of,  223,  226-227;  special 
commission  of,  for  restoration 
of  monuments,  227-229. 

Ministry  of  Public  Works  and 
Transport,  in  control  of  rail- 
ways, 78,  103,  195;  in  charge 
of  soil  restoration  service,  155. 

Ministry  of  War,  authority  of, 
over  railways,  103 ;  cooperation 
of,  in  regulating  relief  societies, 
276. 

Monuments,  defined,  223;  appro- 
priations for,  not  included,  185 ; 
destroyed,  224-226 ;  special  com- 
mission for,  227-229;  little  yet 
done  in  restoration  of,  233-234, 
293. 

Morocco,  law  of  war  damages  not 
applicable  to,  100. 

Moselle,  new  department  of,  211- 
212. 

Motors  supplied  for  industrial 
establishments,  130. 

Munitions,  explosion  of,  in  soil, 
263-264. 

National  Employment  Bureau, 
246. 

Nord  railway  system,  102,  106- 
109;  handling  of  troops  by, 
106-107;  losses  of,  108-109; 
rebuilding  of,  113-114;  policy 
137-139;  coal  mines  in,  141-144, 
houses  for  employees  of,  117, 
273. 

Nord  (Department  of),  1-2,  9; 
devastation  of,  34;  municipal 
loan  for  resuming  industry  in, 
137-139;  coal  mines  in,  141-144, 
146;  cattle  placed  in,  158-159; 


La  Bassee  in,  187;  medical 
relief  stations  in,  258;  children 
from,  given  holiday,  260;  com- 
munity house  in,  281;  gift  of 
cattle  to,  284. 

Norway,  contributions  from,  281. 

Nurses,  work  done  by,  260-262; 
supplied  by  American  Com- 
mittee for  Devastated  France, 
288. 

Ogier,  M.,  Minister  of  the  Lib- 
erated Regions,  210. 

Oise  (Department  of),  1-3;  dev- 
astation of,  35-36;  resuming  in- 
dustry in,  137-139;  cattle  placed 
in,  158;  beet  crop  in,  200; 
monuments  destroyed  in,  225; 
medical  relief  stations  in, 
258. 

Parliament,  voted  credits  for  re- 
construction, 41 ;  passed  town 
planning  law,  269.  See  Sen- 
ate and  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties. 

Pas-de-Calais    (Department   of) 
1-3,  9;    devastation   of,  34-35 
resuming  industry  in,  137-139 
coal    mines    in,    141-144,    147 
cattle  placed  in,  158-159;  resto- 
ration of  soil  in,  162 ;  beet  crop 
in,   200;    cooperative   societies 
in,  215;  medical  relief  stations 
in,  258;    children  from,  given 
holiday,    259-260;    village    in, 
"adopted"  in   Paris,  280;    gift 
of  cattle  to,  284. 

Personal  property,  indemnity  for, 
72,  174,  267-268. 

Philanthropy,  contribution  of,  to 
reconstruction,  275-291. 

Poincare,  Raymond,  279. 

Poland,  agreement  with,  concern- 
ing laborers,  246-247. 

Political  organization  of  France, 
20-21. 

Polk,  Miss  Daisy,  see  Comtesse 
de  Buyer. 

Population,  of  devastated  areas, 
9-10,  99. 


INDEX 


347 


Portugal,  agreement  with,  on  war 
claims,  242-243;  laborers  from, 
245. 

Prefects,  authority  of,  20-21;  to 
report  losses,  41 ;  various  duties 
of,  81,  258,  265-266. 

Protectorates,  law  of  war  dam- 
ages applicable  to,  100. 

Public  buildings,  restoration  of, 
73,  293;  destroyed,  224-226. 
See  monuments. 

Railways,  in  war  zone  injured, 
27;  new  constructed  for  mili- 
tary purposes,  27,  and  later 
removed,  119;  restored,  101- 
102,  118-119;  military  control 
of,  102-103.  See  Est  and  Nord 
railway  systems. 

Railway  stations,  destroyed,  110, 
and  restored,  114-115;  tracks 
destroyed,  109-110,  and  re- 
stored, 113-115. 

Rathenau,  Dr.  Walter,  at  Wies- 
baden conference,  252. 

Real  property,  indemnity  for,  71. 

Reconstitution,  see  Reconstruc- 
tion. 

Reconstruction,  beginnings  of, 
39-58;  first  commission  on,  42- 
44;  interministerial  committee 
on,  46-49;  organization  of,  78- 
100;  total  expenditures  for, 
179-183 ;  international  aspects 
of,  237-256;  achievements  of, 
summarized,  292-298.  See  Co- 
operative societies  for  recon- 
struction. 

Red  Cross  societies,  275-276. 

Reemployment  of  indemnities, 
insisted  on  by  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  66-69,   197,  309  seq. 

Refugees,  cared  for,  33,  46,  265. 
See  Sinistres. 

Regional  committees  for  indus- 
trial reconstruction,    126. 

Reims,  city  of,  6,  8,  10,  110; 
history  of,  16-17;  resuming  in- 
dustry, 137;  ruins  long  unre- 
lieved, 201 ;  cooperative  society 
largest   in  invaded   area,  216- 


217 ;  monuments  destroyed, 
224;  cathedral,  234,  281;  adop- 
tion of  city  plan,  272;  appeal 
by  mayor  of,  280;  American 
gift  to  library  in,  284 ;  nursing 
center  in,  290. 

Relief  societies,  33,  275-291. 

Renaissance  des  Cites  (La),  a 
society  for  town  planning,  269, 
272. 

Reparations  Commission,  claims 
presented  to,  183,  241;  repara- 
tions approved  by,  237-238; 
Wiesbaden  agreement  referred 
to,  254. 

Reparations,  German,  related  to 
war  damages,  65,  76,  172,  184, 
237;  basis  for,  183;  delay  in, 
198;  decision  of  Supreme 
Council  regarding,  248. 

Reparations,  interministerial  com- 
mittee of,  created,  241. 

Requisitions  of  enemy,  indemnity 
for,  71. 

Revolving  funds,  classes  of,  174; 
established  for  cooperative  so- 
cieties, 211,  213-214. 

Reynald  report  to  Senate,  67-69. 

Ribot,  A.,  Minister  of  Finance, 
64,  and  Premier,  69. 

Rosenthal,  Leon,  270. 

Sanitation,  importance  of,  257; 
relation  of,  to  new  buildings, 
265-266;  in  rebuilt  towns,  274, 
297. 

Schools,  instruction  resumed  in, 
99;  importance  of,  257;  medical 
inspection  in,  260-262;  food 
stations  in,  261;  condition  of 
buildings,  262;  physical  educa- 
tion in,  289. 

Seed,  purchase  of,  46,  155,  161; 
for  trees,  gift  of  American 
Forestry  Association,  169;  sup- 
plied by  American  Committee, 
287. 

Seine,  departments  of  Seine- 
Inferieure,Seine-et-Loire,Seine- 
et-Marne,  Seine-et-Oise,  2. 

Senate,    representation    in,    21; 


348 


INDEX 


traditional  conception  of,  66; 
attitude  on  indemnities,  69. 

Separation  law,  between  church 
and  state,  223;  effect  on  recon- 
struction problems,  230,  235, 
236. 

Sinistres,  68-70;  chief  concern  of, 
84;  responsible  for  delay  in 
settling  indemnities,  91-92;  in- 
dustrial, special  problems  of, 
124-126,  156-157,  202;  disburse- 
ments to,  178;  permitted  to 
borrow  on  future  indemnities, 
185-186,  201;  in  debt  to  state, 
194;  formed  cooperative  soci- 
eties, 207,  et  al.  See  also 
Refugees. 

Skinner,  Mr.  William,  283. 

Soil  of  war  zone  injured,  28-29; 
efforts  to  restore,  75,  98-99,  155, 
164-165. 

Somme  (Department  of),  1-3; 
devastation  of,  35;  resuming 
industry  in,  138-139;  cattle 
placed  in,  158-159;  restoration 
of  soil,  162;  cooperative 
societies  in,  215;  rebuilding  of 
group  of  villages  in,  254-255; 
medical  relief  stations  in,  258; 
children  from,  given  holiday, 
259-260;  memorial  fountain  in, 
283. 

Spa  conference,  247. 

Stouvenot,  M.,  vii,  142,  147. 

Sugar  industry,  138-139,  293. 

Supreme  Council,  decision  of, 
regarding  reparations,  248. 

Systematic  nature  of  destruction 
by  Germans,  22,  39. 

Tardieu,  M.  Andre,  vii,  14,  178, 

183;  Minister  of  the  Liberated 

Regions,  209. 
Temperament  of  French  people 

unchanged,  297. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  ravages  of,  5 ; 

end  of,  17-18. 
Toulemon,  Andre,  quoted,  66. 
Town  halls,   historic,   destroyed, 

223-225;  problems  of  restoring, 

230-231,  236. 


Town  planning,  268-274;  a  new 
subject  in  France,  268;  law  for, 
passed,  270-271;  law  quoted  in 
full,  299-305. 

Trade  unions,  relation  of,  to  co- 
operative societies,  207. 

Transport  system,  extent  of, 
before  the  war,  14-15;  restora- 
tion of,  101-121;  director  gen- 
eral of,  appointed,  103-104; 
transferred  to  Ministry  of 
Public  Works  and  Transport, 
103-104. 

Trees,  see  Forests. 

Troop  trains,  105-106. 

Tuberculosis,  among  children, 
259. 

Tunis,  law  of  war  damages  not 
applicable  to,  100. 

Unemployed,   office   in  Paris   to 

place,  33. 
Union  of  French  Associations  for 

National  Progress,  279,  290. 
Unions,  of  cooperative  societies, 

215-216;      trade,     see     Trade 

unions. 

Vauxaillon  tunnel,  112-113. 

Verdun,  strategic  position  of,  6; 
battle  of,  6-7;  population  of, 
10;  ravages  of  war  in,  6,  110; 
history  of,  17-18;  siege  of,  25; 
ruins  of,  201;  cathedral  re- 
paired, 234. 

Versailles,  treaty  of,  65;  repara- 
tion provisions  of,  237 ;  portion 
of,  239-241;  in  relation  to 
Wiesbaden  agreement,  253-254. 

Vosges  (Department  of),  2;  dev- 
astation of,  38;  resuming  in- 
dustry in,  137;  monuments 
destroyed  in,  225;  medical 
relief  stations  in,  258. 

War  damages,  3,  31;  conditions 
of  awarding,  41-42;  report  of 
commission  on,  43-45 ;  fixed  by 
law,  70-76;  how  paid,  74; 
superior  commission  on,  91; 
application  of  law  of,  to  farm 


INDEX 


349 


property,  164;  total  amount 
estimated,  180-181;  law  of,  ap- 
plied to  foreigners,  237 ;  law  of, 
quoted  in  full,  307-331. 
War,  effect  of  reparation  claims 
on  future,  76-77;  being  for- 
gotten, 236. 


Water  analyzed,  263;  supply 
given  to  devastated  villages, 
284. 

Wells  in  war  zone  injured,  30-31, 
262-263;  restored,  99. 

Wiesbaden  agreement,  252-253. 

Women  inspectors  appointed,  260. 


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MAB  21  1934  SOMwttfry 


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MAY  9    1934 


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